NOT GUILTY? What do we do now?

Please allow me to step on my soapbox for a minute or two....

Now I really haven't said much of anything about this Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman "scandal" as some have put it.  Aside from my blacking out my profile in support of #justicefortrayvon that's about all that you've heard from me. 

I honestly didn't know how to react to the "Not Guilty" Verdict, but my heart was definitely broken.  I spent the first 20-30 minutes just crying.  Crying for his family....his mother, his father, his brother. Crying for healing, for peace, for comfort, for some sort of....hope.  I'm not a mother yet, but I can only imagine the pain of knowing that the child you spent 9 months carrying, followed by 2 years of nurturing, changing, feeding, waking up in the middle of the night consoling, rushing to the emergency room because of an abnormally high fever, then 5 years chasing, squeezing that little hand to make sure he didn't run out into the middle of the street, scolding not to touch the hot stove,  followed by 10 of years educating, mentoring, worrying about if he'd fit in with the other kids, or wishing he'd stay away from those knuckleheaded rascals, or daydreaming about the day to come next year when he'd finally walk across that stage. But to find out that you'll never get to see that day.  That hurts!

But then to find out that there's no justice for the person that took that away all because he decided to take the law into his own hands. 

So after crying, of course I got angry.  How dare you claim that you feared your life was in danger when YOU were the one following this child?  YOU were the one who continued pursuing this child AFTER the police told you not to.  I'm sorry but it seems to me that a normal person that "fears for their life" would call the police and run.  Or at least stay in your car until the police got there. No, you chose to follow him and to take matters into your own hands, resulting in the death of a 17 year old CHILD. I was filled with so much hatred and anger after that verdict I started crying even more. You know that "I'm so mad, I could cry" kind of cry we've all felt from time to time. 

In fact, I'm pretty sure I've cried every day about this.  It hurts!

But what has begun to hurt me more is the ignorance I've seen over the past 2 days after this.  I've seen pictures posted of people celebrating Zimmerman's verdict, and others talking about plots to make him suffer.  ALL IGNORANCE. And the sad thing is that we like, share and repost these notions SPREADING the very hatred and ignorance we are so mad at in the first place. Doing exactly what the enemy would want.  Exactly what the Bible warns us of:

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them." Roman 16:17-18

The spreading of these disgraceful posts causes nothing less than division and promotes the exact opposite of what we should be spreading... the only thing that produces true change...the GOSPEL.

"There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers." Proverbs 6:16-19   (

Please recognize what you are doing when you share these negative comments, posts and pics.  Think about how you felt when you saw those comments....angry, offended, hurt, frustrated.  Why would you want to spread that to others.  Please do not be ignorant of the enemy's devices.  The Word says that one plants and one waters, but God gets the increase.  I personally believe that this is a principle that Satan recognizes. (Yes, Satan knows the Bible...please don't forget who he was).  Recognize that he too can use ONE to PLANT seed of discords and ONE  to WATER that seed so that he can get that increase.  All he needs is one person to start it and another person to share it.  DO NOT BE THAT ONE!

Now please do not misinterpret this to mean just ignore the hateful things that are going on and being spread.  By all means, DO NOT IGNORE IT. We need to know what's going on in the world.  We need to know what's right and wrong, and who is on what side.  And we need to do something about it.  It's time for us to get back on the wall, pray, back the enemy off of our nation, our churches, our children and our families.  It's time for us to get involved in politics, the judicial system, the schools, and impact and change the way our nation operates. I would encourage everyone to get involved somewhere and make a difference.  In your anger, do not sin, but get up and do something positive about it. 

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Eph 4:29-32

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you" - Philippians 4:8, 9.

Now, I know I've quoted all this Bible that some of you just might not understand.  So let me put it in words that you might. Better yet,  I'll let Michael do it.

"Man In The Mirror"

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Widow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

   

I Never Thought I'd Be Here

So I've always been that girl with the high metabolism....able to keep a coke bottle figure by eating whatever I wanted and working out once a quarter.  UNTIL I TURNED 25.  I stepped on a scale a few months later and saw a number that seriously made me want to cry....165. I don't think I ever told any body that.  To some that may not even be a lot but to someone who has for 25 years been 120lbs and less that's a major jump.

I have tried so many times to workout and develop a healthy lifestyle but I could never keep with it. Resolution after resolution...disappointment after disappointment. Until recently!  In the last 30 days or so that has been a major change in me attitude towards working out. I love it!  Like seriously love it.  I have gotten to the point where I work out at least 5 or 6 days a week and I go crazy when I don't get a work out it.  And I'm so proud of this accomplishment.  And I've been much better about eating healthy and drinking water. I used to drink maybe a glass of water a week. I'm not perfect with it but I have been getting at least 60 ounces in daily. I just made it to where its the only thing I drink.

I recently started doing Insanity....and I must say its INSANE. I'm finished day 6 today. I'm not really doing the 60 day challenge completely.  I tend to crosstrain with some of my other favorite video trainers like Tiffany Rothe and Denise Austin but I'm finding that after just a few days of Insanity, workouts that were hard for me in the past are ridiculously easier. 

Needless to say I am about 153 lbs.  I seem to have reached a plateau and have vacillated between 151 and 155 though.  It can be discouraging stepping on the scale daily and seeing it go up from the day before.  I really need to stop weighing in daily.  But it kinda pushes me to do more.  I can see changes in my body as far as toning and flattening my stomach though so that's exciting.

So anyway, I just really needed to journal about this experience. I'm excited about where I am and even more excited about where I'm going.  My boo and I are going to Vegas in 15 days and I'm planning on wearing some tight dresses and looking superdidooper fly.  Then we hitting up the Bahamas sometime next year....gotta get my BahamasBikiniBody!!!! My goal is to be rocking my first bikini this summer.  Everyday I'm getting one step closer!

Speaking of Bats

So obviously I haven's blogged in 2 years, but hey it's never to late to continue. Of course in two years I have had plenty of Animal Adventures to blog about but this one seems to have made the cut.

Last night I went out with Sean for our 6 month anniversary. It was definitely amazing. He took me to this place called Sullivan's Steakhouse - a gorgeous and classy restaurant. The lights were all dim in there, all romantical and stuff. They even took a complimentary picture of us since it was a special occassion...ooo lah lah. The food was spectacular.

Then we drove to Ennis to this big Drive In Theatre (I <3 the drive in). We saw "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" & "Zookeeper" (funny movie). So we're just chillin in the car nearing the end of the 1st movie, windows down (cause it's still summer time and we aint bout to waste gas running the car for 4 hours just for air conditioning). All of sudden I get distracted by this thing flying into my passenger window. AND ITS HUUUUGGGGEEEE! I scream bloody murder (fortunately it was an action part in the movie so no one around heard me---I think), hop into Sean's arms while swatting at this bat. It took a couple seconds to get it out.

I was fairly paranoid the rest of the night. I tried to take a quick snoozer in between movies (cause ya'll know I like to sleep) but I couldn't cause I kept hearing noises behind me. Of course the "noisies" was more than likely just the bag that our leftovers were in being blown by the wind flowing through the open windows, but hey. When you just came close to death by bat you start to think crazy things.

And Sean said it wasn't it bat! Yeah right. Aint no birds flying through the drive in at night. Plus it was too big to be a moth, and too small to be bird. Thus I conclude---BAT!

Oh the life of the King's Princess!

Animal Chronicles -pt 1

For those of you who don't already know, I seem to often get attacked or threatened by random animals. I don't really know why but it just kinda happens. It all started about three years ago. I don't know why and I don't know how....all I know is that it's always completely random.

So I was on my way home from church tonight, and I realized that the porch light probably wouldn't be on because I hadn't been home all day and neither had Min V. (my landlord). Pulling up to the driveway, I turned my bright lights on to make sure that there were no nocturnal animals lurking in the grass (I'll have to do a blog on why this was the first thought that came to my mind--->other random animal encounters). I felt at peace when I saw that the coast was clear.

So I walk up to the front door with key in hand, and it takes me like 3 minutes just to open the thing (of course). Suddenly.......






I got in. Ha ha. (Suspenseful, huh?) Lol. So I make it safely into the house put my stuff in my room, then low and behold I realize I left my Butterfinger Sonic Blast in the car. "Aww man," I mutter and snap my fingers. So, I make my way back outside. As I walk out to the porch, closing the door behind me, this huge bat looking thing head towards my head. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" I scream, as I run to my car.

So why didn't I run back into the house, you ask? Two reasons:

1. I was afraid the the bat looking thing might make its way into my humble abode, and
2. I wasn't going to dare let my Butterfinger Sonic Blast go to waste.

So I run to my car, grab my Butterfinger Sonic Blast along with a tennis ball I found in the car, hoping to somehow protect myself if the bat looking thing was still at the porch. Low and behold ...there it was, chilling on a brick directly left to the front door.

"How do I get into the house without getting mauled by this psycho bat looking thing?" I ask myself. Oh handy dandy little tennis ball.

Boom!

Strike 1.

"A little higher." Boom!

Strike 2.

"Higher".








Splat.

"Just Right!"




Just kidding. I didn't annihilate the little bat looking thing, but I did hit close enough to scare it away and run into the house holding my prized Butterfinger Sonic Blast as a shield over my head. I wont be going back outside tonight.

Oh the life of the King's Princess.

E. Ray's Blogger

Welcome to E.Ray's Blogger!

I've always been a talker, but recently I felt the need to start writing more. Thus the blog....

I can't promise you any details of what these blogs will contain...but I can promise that they will be of the utmost randomosity (if that's even a word). Shall I begin?!?!? I believe I shall.

Just to give you a little background of myself...I am a PK. What's a PK? Well I'm glad you asked. It's a Preacher's Kid. I am one of 8 Preacher's Kids to be exact. For those of you who have never been a PK, I would like to give you the 4-1-1 on what it's like (What exactly does 4-1-1 mean anyway. Idea for another random blog maybe).

I will educate you on the life of a PK by listing the Pros and Cons...

Cons of being a PK:

• You're at church all day long, from an hour before service starts to up to five hours after it ends.


• The enemy seems to attack you and yours more than any other random kid.


• You live the life of a politician's child--everybody watches everything you do.


• You're not allowed to date until you're a senior in high school, so you rebel and do it anyway.
  

• All the other PKs know you're not innocent even though adults think you are.

• You have a way of finding out all the church drama, even when you don't want to hear it.
  

Pros of being a PK

• You learn to fall asleep no matter where you are or how loud it is. Because PKs tend to stay at church all day long, we learn to adapt. I have fallen asleep outside of an airport, sitting on top of my suitcase, while it was raining.
  

• You learn how to pray at a very early age.


• All the adults think you're innocent.
  

• You can say the books of the Bible faster than any other random church kid.
  

• Though you may not want to hear it, you hear the Word 24-7...at church, at home, in the car, when your getting a whipping, when you're eating, when you're sleeping.
  

• You despise being a PK while you're young, but you thank God for when you grow up and realize how blessed you really were.
  

Despite all the cons, I really do thank God that I was a PK. More than that, I thank God that I was birthed into a family of truly God-fearing and God-honoring parents who taught me from a young age how to live for God. I cannot tell you how blessed I am to know God (not just about him) and to have parents who birthed me out naturally, and started the spiritual birthing process!


This is all I have for now. Fellow PKs feel free to add to this list.