Category: Blog

It is not how high you’ve risen
it is not, how much you’ve gained
Our God makes His decision
Based on did you let Him reign

It is not how far you fell
How deep you were in sin
Our God keeps you from hell
Based on did you let Him in

Many good with great resource
Reputations and fine deeds
Will find within this discourse
Only Christ can fill their needs

Those impoverished and lonely
Who despair and spirits hurting
Will find comfort in Christ only
From eternity this is certain

Don’t measure your salvation
Based on personal observation
How far you fall and how high you rise
Only God has this information

Look beyond your situation
Ignore your status high or low
God sees your reputation
And He determines where you go

Matthew 21:32 For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him

Another reason to complain
Another chance to doubt
It still escapes my feeble brain
God always works things out

My memory is so very odd
It seems only to retain
Disappointments I have with God
I keep reasons to complain

No matter how He blesses me
In sweet affirming ways
I fail to show Him thankfulness
I fail to give Him praise

Instead when I awaken
I resubmit my list
My doubts remain unshaken
I tell God what He missed

I will only know the good and best
When I start to realize
Christ alone is peace and rest
The soul’s reward and prize

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3 KJV

TJ went to bed hungry. His mother was working the late shift at the nursing home and his father works as a mechanic but there have been slow downs and layoffs. His father is not getting the hours he wants and subsidizes his income by delivering food for a restaurant. TJ went to bed hungry. This is not because of the lack of care or love of his parents but due to their busy schedule which makes it difficult to provide for him and his two sisters. TJ wakes up still hungry but his parents are too tired to make him breakfast so he hurries on his walk to school. By the time he stands in the cafeteria and gets his morning meal, he does not feel ready to learn his math lessons.He falls asleep in class.

Across town in a more affluent neighborhood ST goes to bed with a full stomach. His mother finished her tennis lessons just in time to help him with his homework. His father comes home in time from the office and after dinner with the family, he goes upstairs and reads ST and his two brothers a bedtime story. ST awakens in the morning to the smell of waffles and bacon. After having a tasty breakfast his mother drops him off at school. He is well prepared for his math, science and French classes. He has even started college prep classes.

The trajectory for these 2 young boys is determined not by who they are or their capabilities. It is life chances. It has very little to do with their personal merit.

Two apples falling from the same tree will fall to the earth at rates depending upon the height from which they fall. That is, the slower apple falling from a lower distance will hit the ground sooner than the faster apple falling from a greater height. The apple that is higher is further from the center of gravity. It moves faster but the distance traveled means it will arrive last. That is a well established law of physics.The principle of acceleration, first posited by Newton defines which apple wins this race to the ground. Life chances in the human condition are determined by position more than ability. Merit is a mirage.

We operate in a world that denies this and claims meritocracy is the basis for advancement, success. If you are unsuccessful, you must be undeserving. We assume that the ‘have-nots’ have not because they have not tried hard enough.

This is also social Darwinism which dictates the survival of the fittest, strongest, smartest, prettiest and hardest working. This would mean that if you don’t achieve, you have none of these attributes and it is your fault that you remain at the bottom rung of society.

Mendelian genetics if allowed to be hijacked into the eugenics debate would dictate that we achieve based upon some inherited fault or advantage in our chromosomes. Despite the fact that 99.9% of mankind has the exact same genetic makeup, some find comfort or despair in the notion that others are inferior by nature.

Merit is a mirage. No one of us deserves any more than any other of us. All of us have what we have because of what someone else bequeathed to us. To be sure, we do have the responsibility to take advantage of what was given to us. But if we were given little, further from the center of gravity, no matter how fast we run, we may not reach the goal first.

It is critical as Christians that we divorce ourselves from the notion of the ‘undeserving poor’. We believe that we merit both the favor of God and society. Nothing could be further from the truth. Merit is a mirage.

We are who we are, we have what we have, by the grace of God. Once we have, we are mandated to share with the have nots. It is not a choice for the Christian. It is a command of Christ.

Matthew 25:41-42 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

1 Corinthians 5:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

He knew it was wrong
Didn’t have to think twice
He found it so odd
This chaplain’s advice

Your life is worth little
Family and friends have forgotten
Face it dear brother
It’s not just bad, it is rotten

Twenty five years in this place
Most of it locked in a cage
Your health getting worse
You look twice your age

And if by some chance
You are released on parole
You will be shunned by the world
No one cares for your soul

So my advice my dear friend
Should I dare call you such
Just take your own life
You won’t suffer so much

He looked back at the chaplain
Asked ‘what god do you serve?’
You are supposed to speak life
And you have the nerve

To speak death and despair
To counsel my early demise
Would you heed your own words
Would you do as advised

I know Christ as my Savior
I know Him as my King
My life’s in His hands
I will do no such thing

I will live each day in full
I will cherish each breath
I see clearly now that you
Have embraced your own death

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Job 2:9 KJV

Before I can give you this sandwich, I need to ask you a few questions. Please try to keep down that rumbling sound in your stomach. It is very distracting and it will only make this interview go longer.

Now, let’s start with this. When was the last time you ate? Where were you the last time you ate? Who ate with you? Did you share it with them? Did they have a sandwich too? Please answer these questions as clearly as you can and I will do my best to get your sandwich to you as soon as possible. Sign on the dotted line to attest to the accuracy and honesty of your answers. Thank you for your cooperation.

During our years of service in Kenya, we learned the African proverb: ‘Never interview a hungry man. Feed him first and he will volunteer the answers.’

We are now over 8 years in service as the Miriam Medical Clinics. We have provided care for hundreds of men and women. Some of them had adequate resources, which made it easy. They could access both public and private transportation to the clinic, had enough money to purchase their medications had no obvious addiction to dangerous substances. There are many more, however, who are controlled by substance and circumstance. The history of physical and sexual abuse as children and young adults, incarceration in jails and prisons, history of both psychological and emotional disturbances complicate providing medical care. These are the factors which make it necessary to keep the intake medical interview, short and sweet. “What is your name? How can we help you?”

We recognize there are extenuating circumstances and diagnosis codes that are part of providing care. We are supposed to ask; ‘Are you addicted? Do you smoke? Are you hetero, bi, homo or trans-sexual? Have you had or do you have a sexually transmitted disease? Are you safe in your home? To say the least, it is difficult to conduct this interview. We would like to get to the bottom line first. “How can we help you?”

Interviewing a hungry man makes it difficult for him to answer the questions. He has one thing and only one thing on his mind. He wants to stave off the hunger. He wants that sandwich. We don’t need immediately to know where he spent his last welfare check or why did he leave the last homeless shelter. We don’t immediately need to know why she is still with the boyfriend who pimps her out to get the rent and utilities paid. We don’t immediately need to know why their family members won’t or can’t help. These are not the urgent questions. The only urgent question is “How can we help you?

How do we help your pain situation? How can we help with your blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and your body aches? Is there anyone you would like us to contact to provide other resources for housing, clothing or food assistance? “How can we help you?”

Once we ask the right questions, the hungry man may tell us his story. But even if he doesn’t give us more information, our calling is not to interview. Our calling is to help.

Ask the right questions of those you encounter everyday. Now, about that sandwich. Would you like mayonnaise or mustard?

John 9:1-2 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

I may lose some friends for posting this and I am sure I will make some people mad. But the bottom line is this. Black lives won’t matter to them, until they really matter to us. Once I was arrested for stealing my own car. I explained to the police officer that it was indeed my car. He asserted to the contrary that the car had been reported as stolen. I stated how can that be? It is my car. He ignored me, handcuffed me and took me to jail.

This was the year 1987. I had just returned from my 2nd short-term Christian missionary outreach to Africa.

That morning I had just drop my children off at school and completed rounds at 2 hospitals. The license plates had been tampered with on my car and I was emerging from the office with the appropriate documents in hand to reapply. That’s when the officer approached.

I kept my cool. I showed him the documents in my hand. He ignored me. He had an agenda that it was best I complied with for the sake of my life.

I called out to a young black man who happen to be walking by and gave him my wife’s phone number. “Please call my wife and tell her I am being taken to the police station!” He did so. And within 30 minutes my wife was there to free me from this very unpleasant dilemma. This was only one of a series of similar encounters with the police I have had growing up. None of them proved fatal. All but one was unnecessary and unnerving.

I understand completely the furor, indeed righteous anger associated with the openly brazen acts of murder of black citizens of this country when those acts are committed by those responsible for protecting the citizens. I agree with Colin Kaepernick, as I agreed with the late, great Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos the Olympians of 1968 who all stood in protest against racism and oppression in the United States. I understand the problem because I have lived it and continue to live it.

However, there comes a time when I must ask my own community to take in account of how much our lives matter to us. I am fully aware that this will not be accepted by many of my friends, colleagues, cohorts and family. But it must be said. Every time a black man, woman or child dies in a drive-by shooting, gangster violence, drug related activity that life matters. Every time a baby is pulled from the uterus of a mother either by sucking, dismemberment, injection of lethal substances or scraping the walls of the womb that life matters.

Every time a mother buries her son or daughter who has been caught up either by accident or chance in a violent episode in our community that life should matter.

Murdering black men and women in the streets by those who are entrusted to protect is without excuse. But their excesses will continue until we make it a point to protest vehemently, argue unceasingly and protect our own from our own. Black lives won’t matter to anyone unless they matter to us.

• Leadership is not about getting my way but showing the way.
• Leadership compels me to demand more of myself than I expect of others.
• Leadership requires I affirm and assure the weakest amongst as I do the strongest amongst us.
• Leadership demands that I both kneel to serve and stand to defend the weak.
• Leadership is standing before the Commander without obscuring His presence from followers.
• Leadership is content with hearing ‘well done’ from the Commander as a reward.
• Leadership finds joy by helping others find peace

I would like the conversation about statues to have an explain and expunge option. That is, rather than tear down a statue or deface it, have a plaque to explain the real history behind it. This would allow the statue to remain in place, without completely expunging it from the historical record. This would allow those who take pride in it to get a real sense of the history associated with it without antagonizing those who venerate the historical figure.

Let’s explain history, not expunge it.

It was purely for pleasure
Conception accidental
Their personal choice
This life’s not essential

We declared him as guilty
And worthy of death
He is worthless and filthy
We’ll choose his last breath

She is old and decrepit
Just look at her drool
We have no choice but
To kill the old fool

The deformed and infirmed
The unborn and the weak
Your worth, we confirmed
Hear us as we speak

We decide who can live
We decide who will die
Mercy is ours to give
By the laws we apply

From the time of conception
Till your last day on earth
Men will practice deception
To determine your worth

Pro-life or pro-death
Mercy kill, euthanize
We determine last brea

Dear Mr. President;

Much furor has mounted and persisted over the tearing down of statues. All of these statues are venerated by somebody, somewhere. I personally believe that many of these should have been torn down long ago. It is impossible to convince everyone of the rationale of tearing down one statute versus another. Suffice it to say, there are some statues that no one in this country that should be removed and actually should have never been put in place. If you tear down these statues, Mr. President, you will literally be remembered as a great leader. Here is my list of things that must go now! These definitions are from sources I found online. It makes it easy for me to understand it this way.

1) Redlining In the United States, redlining is the systematic denial of various services by federal government agencies, local governments as well as the private sector either directly or through the selective raising of prices. Neighborhoods with high proportion of minority residents are more likely to be redlined than other neighborhoods with similar household incomes, housing age and type, and other determinants of risk, but different racial composition. While the best known examples of redlining have involved denial of financial services such as banking or health care (see also Race and health) or even supermarkets have been denied to residents. In the case of retail businesses like supermarkets, purposely locating stores impractically far away from targeted residents results in a redlining effect.

2) Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries, which is most commonly used in first-past-the-post electoral systems. Two principal tactics are used in gerrymandering: “cracking” (i.e. diluting the voting power of the opposing party’s supporters across many districts) and “packing” (concentrating the opposing party’s voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts). A third tactic, shown in the top-left diagram in the graphic, is homogenization of all districts (essentially a form of cracking where the majority party uses its superior numbers to guarantee the minority party never attains a majority in any district)

3) Racial Profiling is the act of suspecting or targeting a person on the basis of assumed characteristics or behavior of a racial or ethnic group, rather than on individual suspicion.Racial profiling, however, is not limited only to an individual’s ethnicity or race, but can also be based on the individual’s religion, or national origin. In European countries, the term “ethnic profiling” is also used instead of racial profiling.

If you could be instrumental in demanding these statutes be removed, the others won’t really matter. In fact, I believe the furor would diminish as people come to understand that we can’t erase history, but we don’t have to continue to live in the evil shadow it casts over our present by these intangible yet palpable statues.

To paraphrase President Ronald Reagan
“Mr. President, tear down these statues.

Sincerely,

Michael Johnson