Truthful Tuesday… differently.

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31

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I started this little “truthful Tuesday” post on my blog a couple of weeks ago…

it was meant to be about ME and MY FAMILY.

About something in MY LIFE that I was being honest about.

Seems silly to think that ANYONE would want to know about my laundry “guilt” or my unwashed dishes.

DUMB.

I mean really….how NARSASISTIC.

Anyway…It all SEEMED like a great idea.

THEN….

I had a stirring day yesterday..

The LORD really spoke to me thru a friend of mine.

She is a missionary in Haiti…and she is an amazing writer who truly has a way with words.

She has a GOD given gift….a way of thinking and a way of expressing herself so beautifully.

And so TRUTHFULLY.

She has been thrown directly into the fire…eyes OPENED.

She ha.s been STRIPPED of preconceived notions and assumed lies

Lead right in onto the FRONT LINES of GODS battlefield.

She was brave and selfless in making the decision to GO to Haiti.

I am sure that there are those that think that taking 4 kids from their HUGE beautiful home in their safe neighborhood is …CRAZY.

BUT----

I get it! I am the same way…

I am a SUCKER for the oppressed.

This bible verse has always affected me:

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

And reading her blog and her stories of oppression and pain  makes me want to JUMP IN.

I guess its my personality.

I am a SPRINTER.

When I am moved ….I MOVE.

So…as you can imagine my first instinct is to go directly to Haiti and say , “yes…I want a baby” or “Babe…lets move to Haiti…we have to help SOLVE the PROBLEM.”

But …

That is my FIRST, CRAZY, NON-THINKING self ….SPRINTING.

It is not a REAL solution to ANY PROBLEMS.

It is my “FIGHT or FLIGHT” instinct.

Just a reaction to UNSETTLING , AWFUL, HORRIBLE things that go on in the world.

Fortunately, after a day of just meditating on it,  thinking and praying about the situation…I calmed down and canceled the tickets to Haiti.  LOL

But-seriously…..

I truly feel like GOD(Jah) works in mysterious ways.

I feel like he is moving me to be MORE ACTIVE and intentional with my actions.

I mean …..there are PLENTY of problems in MY TOWN.

So many homeless and oppressed sleeping on the streets of Saint Augustine right now.

There are so many oppressed families that are needy in our own community.

So many hungry mouths and lonely hearts….

So much to do….

So many lessons to learn.

So much to teach.

THIS was the last paragraph on another blog today(Katie).

SWEET, AMAZING, WISE girl………..

“So we go. This is where our family is today and where I hope to stay – loving, because He first loved us. Going into the pit, entering into the sorrow because He entered for us first and because by His grace, redemption is on the other side - again, and again, and again.”

EXACTLY…

Here we go…..LOVING.

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There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11

PSL -Patois as a Second Language?????

“Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant. Class distinctions are embedded in the term, drawn between those who speak patois and those who speak the standard or dominant language.”

IN ORDER TO READ THIS POST…GO DOWN TO THE MUSIC PLAYER ON THE RIGHT AND HIT PAUSE. THEN YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE VIDEOS…SORRY!

Did you understand THAT???

OR

Did it SEEM like another language??????

Well……….

Its ENGLISH.

Patois.

A Jamaican dialect.

I hear people say ALL THE TIME that they CAN’T understand reggae music.

They can FEEL it …they just cant understand the words.

Like this:

SEE!!!!!

Sometimes you CAN understand it.

SOMETIMES you CAN’T.

BUT…YOU CAN DEFINANTLY FEEL IT!!!

The more you listen to reggae music …

the easier it is.

I could tell you EVERY WORD of this song.

(If your interested..leave a comment LOL)

BUT…that is because we listen to REGGAE music.

ALL THE TIME.

EVERYDAY.

EVERYNIGHT.

The kids have GROWN up listening to REGGAE music.

We add in some blues and JAZZ.

But MAINLY…Its REGGAE.

Its pretty much the main STAPLE around here…musically.

PROOF:

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Zeek, Jay and I went to see our friend DJ….

He was spinning TECHO music (so I already had a pretty good idea that we weren't staying long.)

ANYWAY….

When we got there we said HELLO and stood off to the side.

About 5 minutes in…Zeek started FREAKING OUT.

In the WOMB.

He was kicking me and moving around soooooo much that I was in PAIN!!!!

SERIOUS PAIN!

“I DO NOT LIKE THIS MUSIC” pain!

Needless to say….we left.

I took it as a sign.

LOL

ANYWAY….

The other day I was cooking dinner and Shasha was sitting at the kitchen table coloring .

We were listening to music when she asked me SOMETHING about the song that was on.

She wanted to know WHY they were saying something.

What she was asking wasn’t as important to me at the moment as the fact that SHE could UNDERSTAND the words.

I asked her…”Shasha- can you UNDERSTAND what he is saying?”

She looked at me TOTALLY CONFUSED and said, “Yes, why?”

It was so EYE-OPENING.

I started laughing and thought , “I wonder if PATOIS can count as our 2nd language?”

LOL….

Probably not…sadly enough.

But to me ….THIS HOUSE IS BILINGUAL!!!!!!

Love and Light…….

I

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