God

Still

Loves

You

by BURTON BARR, JR.

www.kobaltbooks.com

God Created You

Life is not fair. Job understood this when he said, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). In a country that is as rich as ours, millions of people go to bed hungry every night. That is, if they are lucky enough to have a bed or a home for that matter. The amazing thing is, many people blame God for the misfortunes of humanity.

On a very cold, winter’s day, a young girl stood on a busy street corner begging for food, money or whatever she could get. She stood there cold and shivering as vicious winds penetrated her thin, tattered clothes. Hundreds of people walked past her but only a few dared to look in her direction.

A well-dressed, prosperous looking gentleman looked at the young girl and shook his head before getting into his expensive automobile. When he arrived at his huge, warm, luxurious home, he sat down at the dinner table with his family and began to feast on a meal that was fit for a king.

After eating his dessert, his mind went back to the hungry little girl that he had seen earlier. As he thought about her thin, dirty, shivering body, he started questioning God for allowing such conditions to exist. He said, “God, how can you let this happen? Why don’t you do something to help that little girl?”

He heard God responding to his question with the words, “I did. I created you.”

God blesses us so that we can bless others. But instead, too many people have subscribed to the philosophy, “I got mine. You get yours.” They don’t care if you have enough food as long as their refrigerator is full. They don’t care if gangs terrorize your neighborhood as long as their community is safe. They don’t care if you have health care as long as their family is insured.

There are a lot of problems in this world. But God has already done what He needs to do to solve them. He created you.

God's GPS

Last year I bought a GPS for my car. GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It was designed to help travelers locate and reach their destination. Since I am in charge of the outreach ministry for my local church, it comes in handy when I am looking for addresses. It is also helpful when I travel out of town.

Shortly after purchasing my GPS, I was invited to Detroit to preach and do a book signing. Before leaving home, I programmed the address to where I was going in Detroit into the system. The trip was going smoothly for the first few hours, but then I was directed to turn onto a road that I was not familiar with. I had driven to Detroit many times before, but I had never gone that way.

The farther I drove, the more uncomfortable I became. I called a friend of mine that drives cross-country for a bus company and told him my dilemma. He said although the highway that I was on would get me to Detroit, it was not the route that he would have taken.

I drove for about another hour when I spotted a gas station. I pulled in and asked the attendant how to get to Detroit. He told me that I was on the right road. I drove for a few more hours without seeing a road sign that mentioned Detroit or Michigan.

I was almost ready to turn around when I spotted a state trooper. I pulled over and told him that I was trying to get to Detroit but my GPS obviously had me going the wrong way. He said that I was almost there. He told me to just keep going. Before long, I was in Detroit. Not only that, I had reached my destination without going through the high traffic areas.

God has a GPS too. I call it God’s Positioning System. Before we were born, God programmed our destination into His GPS. Sometimes we get off course. Sometimes we don’t like the route that He has chosen for us. But God puts His people in positions that He wants us to be in so that we can get to where He wants us to be. When you pray, ask God to make you sensitive to His GPS, and then follow His directions. If you are not sure about how God’s GPS works, read the instruction manual that He has provided. It is called, The Holy Bible.

There Is No Plan B

One of my favorite television programs is “The Practice.” Although it is no longer in syndication, I still watch the reruns. The law firm that is portrayed on the program is known for a courtroom maneuver that they call, “Plan B.” That is when they call one of the victim’s relatives to the witness stand and bushwhack him, accusing him of committing the crime that their client is charged with.

In our lives, we often resort to our own version of Plan B. It is a backup plan that we have in our mind or proposal in case the original plan fails. If we cannot get the job that we want, we go to Plan B. If we cannot get into the school that we desire or pursue the degree that we dreamed of, we resort to Plan B.

Plan B has become a cop out to many of us. If a task seems too difficult, or it looks like we might not reach our goal, we give up and look for Plan B. Our motto is, “If at first you don’t succeed, go to Plan B.”

Jesus gave the church a commandment before He left. He told us to make disciples. In Acts 1:8, He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” We must be looking for a Plan B, because 95% of church members have not lead one person to Christ. Instead, we complain about how messed up the world is.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” It is time for us to stop playing church and start being the church. There is only one way that we can change this world. There is no plan B.

Just Do It

Last week I told you about some of the programs that I was part of with Rev. Jesse Jackson. While I was praying and meditating about what I was going to write about this week, I remembered the very first program.

When I walked onto the stage with Rev. Jackson and the rest of the ministers, I thought I was just going to sit in the background and enjoy the program. But when it came time to start, Rev. Jackson asked me to open up and get things going. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I started walking to the podium.

I turned to ask Rev. Jackson for some direction, but before I could open my mouth, he said, “Just do it.” I walked back to the podium and looked at the audience. I was still confused as to what was expected of me, so again I turned to Rev. Jackson who was seated behind me. But again, he looked at me and said, “Just do it.”

As I returned to the podium, I whispered a prayer, asking God for His help and His guidance. I opened the program, made a few remarks, and then turned things over to Rev. Jackson. I later found out that he wanted me to take part in his Christmas program in Chicago, but first he wanted to see if I could handle myself. I thank God for helping me pass the test.

I See Dead People

There was a movie that came out a while back called, “The Sixth Sense.” Bruce Willis played the part of a child psychologist, named Dr. Malcolm Crowe.

One night, while he and his wife were celebrating an award that he had won, he was shot by one of his former patients that had broken into their home. In the very next scene, six months has gone by, and Dr. Crowe had another patient. He was a very strange eight-year-old boy, named Cole, who had a secret. He could see things that no one else could see. Cole was afraid to tell anyone his secret because he knew that no one would believe him. He knew that people would think he was crazy.

One day, Cole got to the point where he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. He said, “Dr. Crowe. I’m ready to tell you my secret now.” He looked at the doctor, and in a voice that is just above a whisper, he said, “I see dead people.”

He said, “They are walking around like regular people.” Then he said something that messed me up. He said, “They don’t know they are dead.” Dr. Crowe asked him, “How often do you see them? Cole said, “All the time. They are everywhere.” Of course, Dr. Crowe thought Cole was crazy. But before the movie was over, Dr. Crowe realized that he was one of the dead people that Cole was able to see. He didn’t know that he was dead.

Like Cole, I also have a secret. I see dead people too. I’m not talking about the kind that Cole saw in the movie. I don’t see any ghosts. I see people who are dead in their sins. I see people who are lost and on their way to hell. I see people who are separated from The Almighty God. I see dead people.

When I’m driving down the street, I see dead people. When I’m walking through the mall, I see dead people. In my family, I see dead people. In the grocery store, I see dead people. In the jails and in the prisons, I see dead people. Everywhere I go, I see dead people. They don’t know that they are dead. That is why I try to tell everyone that I can about Jesus Christ, the only one who can give them life. Jesus said, “I come that you may have life”(John 10:10).

What about you? Do you see dead people? If so, what are you doing about it? Are you trying to tell them about the only one who can give them life? Remember, before Jesus came into your life, you were dead too.

Listen To The Music

I love watching movies. Although I like a good comedy, my favorite movies are drama and suspense. I like movies that hold my attention and keep me on the edge of my seat.

There is one thing that I have noticed about most movies. When one of the characters is about to walk into a dangerous situation, we always hear some eerie music. Have you ever noticed that? When someone starts walking up a flight of stairs or heading toward a closed door, and that music starts playing, I know that they are walking into danger.

There have been times that I was so caught up in a movie, that when I heard that music, I would be shaking my head and hollering to the person, “Don’t go in there. Can’t you hear the music?”

I know it is just a movie and the music is there to add excitement to the scene. But sometimes I wonder what the person would do if he or she could hear the music? Would they stop what they are doing, or would they proceed recklessly? Would they head on into a dangerous situation, or would they act sensibly? In other words, would they listen to the music?

In our lives, we hear music everyday. I’m not talking about the sound of an orchestra or a band. I’m not referring to the melodies that come from our stereos, CDs or MP3s. I’m talking about the still, small voice of God that speaks to our hearts.

How many times have you said, “Something told me not to do that”? Could that “Something” be God talking to you? We often find ourselves in trouble because we do not listen to Him. Instead, we are like the characters in a movie. We go places that we have no business going. We get involved with people that we should stay away from. We eat and drink things that are harmful to us. I can imagine the angels in heaven shaking their heads and hollering to us, “Don’t do that. Can’t you hear the music?”

When God speaks to His people, it is smooth and comforting like soft, mellow music. The problem is, sometimes we don’t listen. We have our minds made up and we do what we want to do. Some Christians have lost their way because they didn’t listen to the music. Some women have gotten into abusive relationships because they didn’t listen to the music.

God knows what is best for us. The next time He speaks to you, open up your heart and listen to the music.

How Bad Do You Want It?

Quitting is one of the easiest things in the world to do. I should know. I was a master of it. If universities gave degrees in quitting, I could have graduated summa cum laude. The problem is, I quit school.

School wasn’t the only thing that I quit. I left my first wife after one year of marriage. I quit preaching three years after being ordained. I was kicked out of the marines before my tour of duty was completed. During the first fifty years of my life, the only thing that I ever completed was a prison sentence. I would have quit that too if I could have.

There is a poem that my father always quoted when he saw I wasn’t doing my best. It was his philosophy of life. It says:

If a task is once begun,

Never leave it till it’s done.

Be the labor, great or small,

Do it well or not at all.

The reason that so many of us do not succeed is because we don’t want it bad enough. We don’t want that degree bad enough to put in the work that it takes to graduate. We don’t want to make the sports team bad enough to practice day in and day out. We don’t want to excel at our jobs bad enough to learn everything that we can about our chosen profession.

Unfortunately, mediocrity is not only thriving in the secular world. It is prevalent in many of our churches as well. Some of us are not interested in being the best Christians that we can be. We don’t go to Sunday school or Bible study. We don’t read our Bibles or pray. A little rain or the threat of snow will keep us from going to church.

When I was hooked on drugs, I was the best junkie that I could be. Nothing could keep me from getting the drugs that I craved. My drugs meant more to me than my family, my friends, or my freedom.

There was a snowstorm in Chicago one winter that was so bad that cars or buses could not move. So I walked three miles through almost two feet of snow to the dope house and then three miles back. That’s how bad I wanted to get high. If I was that committed to something that was killing me, shouldn’t I be even more committed to the one who gave me life?

Do you want to be the best Christian that you can possibly be? If so, how bad do you want it?

Be Thankful

I broke my foot a little over a week ago when I fell of off a loading dock. I was collecting donations for our food pantry and homeless ministry. When I went to the doctor, they put a cast on my foot that goes from my toes to my knee. Now I am confined to my house and the only way I can get around is by using crutches, a walker, or rolling around in an office chair.

I sat home yesterday having a pity party with myself. I started thinking about all of the things I could not do and the places I could not go. I was tired of those crutches. I was tired of that chair. I wanted to throw that walker off the back porch. I was getting depressed.

Then I came to myself. I broke my foot. So what. I should be thankful that I didn’t break my neck. I can’t get out of the house. So what. I should be thankful that I have a house. I can’t take my food downstairs and eat it in front of the big screen TV. So what. I should be thankful that I have food.

We have to stop complaining and feeling sorry for ourselves because of what we do not have and start thanking God for what we do have. There is always someone that is worse off than you.

When I was released from prison in 1986, I decided to go to church. But I didn’t have bus fare, so I had to walk. The church was about three miles away and it was extremely hot that day. While I was walking, I thought about my car that had been repossessed while I was in prison. I thought about all of the money that I used to have. I thought about how hot and sweaty I was getting. I was getting angry because I had to walk.

Then I heard someone coming up behind me. He was singing and whistling. When I turned around, I was shocked at what I saw. It was a man in a wheelchair with no legs. As he passes me, he smiled and said, "Beautiful day isn’t it?" Then he rolled along, singing and whistling.

I had two good legs and was complaining because I had to walk. There was a man that had no legs, but he was able to enjoy the beauty of life. All I am trying to say is, be thankful for what you have.

Where Is Your Brother?

In the fourth chapter of the book of Genesis, the story of Cain and Abel was told. As you know, Cain allowed the powers of sin to overtake him, and in a fit of rage; he killed his brother, Abel. Afterwards, God asked Cain an intriguing question. “Where is your brother?

I want to ask you that same question today. Where is your brother? I’m not talking about your biological brother. I’m talking about the men, women, boys and girls that you come into contact with everyday in the brotherhood of mankind.

We all know someone who is hurting. They may have lost their home or their job. They may have gone through a divorce and are estranged from their children. Someone that is close to them may have recently died or one of their family members is in prison. They might be battling with some type of addiction or they may have just gotten on your last nerve. The bottom line is, they are hurting.

Every one of us knows someone who needs a helping hand or at the very least, needs an encouraging word. God is asking you, “Where is your brother? Can you see him? Can you see his hurt and his pain or have you just given up? Where is your brother?”

When Cain was faced with that question, he gave the answer that all of us have thought about at one time or another. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It amazes me how quickly we can give up on someone because of his or her predicament. But we are thankful that there was someone that did not give up on us when we were in our mess. I’m not just talking about you. I’m a member of that club too.

You have been hurt. You have been disappointed. People that you love have lied to you, stolen from you, and fooled you time and time again. You have cried many tears because of the things that they have done to you. But God is still asking you that same question. "Where is your brother?"

God told Cain something that every one of us needs to hear. He said, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” God does not want anyone to perish. That is why He is so patient. Remember, He was patient with you too.

The next time you pray; say, “Lord, here is my brother. I am putting him in your hands. Then trust God to do the rest.

The Bench

A couple of months ago, I told you that I broke my foot while loading a truck with some donations for one of our ministries. I had been off work and missed going to church during the first few weeks of my convalescence. When I returned to church, I was on crutches. Therefore, I sat on the first bench that I could get to. It was the bench that was closest to the door.

After a few weeks, I noticed that everyone that sat on that particular bench was crippled in one way or another. I came in on crutches. Someone else came in a wheelchair. One person used a walker and another rode a scooter.

One Sunday, a lady came in on a walker. She looked around, in search of a seat, but the bench was full. Just then, the person that was sitting next to me got up, escorted the lady to his seat, and moved to another bench.

When I looked around the church, I realized that there were people all over the sanctuary that had sat on that bench at one time or another. Now they are sitting on other benches. Some of them are sitting in the pulpit. Some of them are sitting in the choir stand. Some of them are ushers. Some are deacons, praise dancers or serving in other areas of ministry.

The church is full of people that were crippled by one sin or another. Some of us were crippled by drugs. Some of us were crippled by lust. Some were crippled by greed while others were crippled by pride. God has delivered all of us from something.

All of us came to the church crippled and broken. Then one day, we felt God tugging at our hearts. We walked down the aisle, shook the pastor’s hand, and took a seat on the “crippled bench.” The problem is, some of you are still sitting there. You have been sitting there for years. You have become content just sitting on the bench with the crippled people.

God did not deliver you so you can just sit and do nothing. He delivered you to serve. It is time for you to get up, escort a crippled person to your seat, and do what God has told you to do.

Bad Choices

Everyone makes mistakes. We must learn from our mistakes so we won’t make them again. The problem is, some of us do make the same mistakes… over and over and over again. I want to throw a curve at you right here. Some of the wrong things that we do are not mistakes. They are bad choices.

If you get in your car and drive away, not realizing that you left your driver’s license in your other jacket, that is a mistake. But if you get in your car and drive away, knowing that you don’t have a driver’s license, that is a bad choice. If you walk out of a store with an item that you forgot to pay for, that is a mistake. But if you walk out of a store with an item that you know you didn’t pay for, that is a bad choice. When you do something that you don’t know is a sin, that is a mistake. But when you knowingly disobey the word of God, that is a bad choice.

I made a lot of bad choices in my life. I turned my back on God and then walked away from the church. Bad choices. I hung out with people that meant me no good and often sought their approval. Bad choices. I got involved with drugs and participated in criminal activities. Bad choices.

What kind of choices are you making? Are they bad choices? You might go to church every Sunday, but what kind of choices do you make Monday through Saturday? You might tell your children what is right, but what kind of choices do they see you make?

When I was lost, my father never stopped praying for me. That was a choice that he made. When I was running the streets, he was praying for me. When I was strung out on drugs, he was praying for me. When I was in prison, he was praying for me.

My father did not live to see his prayers answered. He died three years before God saved my soul and delivered me from that lifestyle. But I believe that when Dad was lying in that hospital bed in a coma, the last thing that he said to God before took his final breath was, “Lord, save my boy.”

What about you? Are you praying for your loved ones? If you are not, that is another one of your bad choices.

Words Hurt

There is an old saying that goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” That is an untrue statement. Words do hurt. People have lost their jobs, their reputation, even their lives because of things that were said about them.

Gossiping has been around forever. All of us, including myself, have been guilty of it at one time or another. We love to hear stories about someone that has fallen or messed up, especially if we don’t like them. If the story is juicy enough, we can’t wait to pass it on via telephone, email, text or some other form of communication. Sometimes we don’t even bother to verify the rumors before passing them on.

A man went to his pastor one day with a question. He said, “Pastor, I understand almost everything that is in the Bible. I understand the commandment not to kill. I understand the commandment not to steal. What I don’t understand is the command against slandering my neighbor. After all, they are just words.”

The pastor said, “I will answer your question. But first I have a task for you. I want you to get a bag of feathers and place one feather in front of every house in your neighborhood. When you have finished, come back and I will give you the answer.”

The man did as he was told. When he had finished, he went back to the church. He said, “Pastor, I have done what you have asked. Now tell me why does God hate slander so much?”

The pastor said, “I want you to do one more thing. Go back and get every feather that you placed in front of each house. Bring them to me and I will answer your question.” The man said, “That’s impossible. The wind has blown them all over town.” The pastor smiled and said, “The same thing happens with the lies that we tell about our neighbors. They can never be retrieved. They are like feathers in the wind.”

Before you say something to, or about, someone, ask yourself how will it affect his or her life? Remember, words hurt.

The Appointment

Life is short. It doesn’t matter if you live one year or one hundred years, compared to eternity, it is just a drop in the bucket. Therefore, wouldn’t it make sense if we were more concerned about where we are going to spend eternity instead of how much stuff we can accumulate?

Don’t get me wrong; God doesn’t have anything against money or success, as long as our priorities are straight. But He does care about how we live and how we treat others.

At one point in my life, I thought I was invincible. I lived recklessly with no regard for myself or for anyone else. I didn’t think about the consequences that I would have to face because of my actions.

The Bible speaks of an appointment that has been made for everyone of us. “It is appointed for men to die once…” (Hebrews 9:27a). It doesn’t matter how rich, how smart or how slick you are, this is one appointment that you will keep.

The story was told of a young man that lived in New York City. One day, he went to the market for his mother. While he was there, he noticed a strange looking man that was staring at him and following him around the store. When he looked closer, he realized that it was the angel of death.

It frightened him so badly that he ran out of the store, leaving all of his groceries behind. When he got home, he told mother what had happened. She immediately took him to the airport and put him on a flight to Los Angeles. Then she went to the market and confronted the death angel.

She asked him why he was following her son around the store and scaring him. The death angel replied, “I’m sorry Ma’am. I didn’t mean to frighten him. I was just surprised to see him here in New York. I have an appointment with him tonight in Los Angeles.”

The writer of Hebrews talks about another appointment at the end of the scripture that I quoted earlier. This one is with the Almighty God. “…but after this, the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27b). All of us will stand before God one day.

I cannot assume that everyone that reads my blogs, are Christians. Therefore, I would be remiss if I failed to ask you something. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you repented of your sins and given your life to Christ? Don’t wait until it’s too late. You don’t know the day or the time of your appointment.

Tick---Tick---Tick

Time waits for no one. In the third chapter of book of Ecclesiastes, the preacher said, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Then he gives us a few examples such as: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to search, and a time to give up; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

We have all been guilty of putting off things that we wanted to do or needed to do. Some things never got done because we ran out of time. We may have gotten too old or too sick; too busy or too tired; too content or too broke. The bottom line is, you kept waiting and the clock kept ticking. I received a phone call a few hours ago from Chicago. I was informed that my cousin, Rose, had just passed away.

Rose was more like a big sister to me than a cousin. We were raised in the same house. She taught me many things, from how to play hopscotch to how to treat women. When I was in trouble, she helped me get a lawyer. When I was on drugs, she helped me get treatment.

I had been thinking about Rose over the last few weeks. I had thought about calling her, but I kept putting it off. Meanwhile, the clock kept ticking. I was planning on seeing her in Chicago this summer, but the clock kept ticking. I was thinking about all of the fun that we were going to have, but the clock kept ticking.

There are so many things that I wish I would have done over the years, but now it is too late. I wish I had spent more time with my children while they were young. I wish I had told my parents how much I loved and appreciated them before they passed away. I wish I had been a stronger witness for Jesus Christ.

What about you? Are there some things that you want to do before it’s too late? The clock is ticking. Do you have a friend or family member that you have not seen or talked to for a while? Tick---Tick---Tick. Are you putting off doing something that is very important? Tick---Tick---Tick. Do you know someone that needs to hear about the love and saving power of Jesus Christ? Tick---Tick---Tick.

The Door

When I decided to leave the streets and give my life to Jesus Christ, I thought all of my problems were going to magically go away and everything was going to be great. I thought my drug habit would just disappear. I thought the police would leave me alone. I thought I would be able to get any job that I wanted and all of my financial problems would be solved. I thought everybody was going to love me and I would be welcome everywhere. Well, things didn’t quite happen that way.

Last week I told you about a friend of mine that I grew up with named, Chucky. He lived across the street from me, and he had a crazy little dog named, Champ. None of us liked that dog. He was a sneaky, little, black, Cocker Spaniel.

Sometimes my friends and I would get together at someone’s house and play cards, listen to music or just hang out. Whenever we went to Chucky’s house, Champ acted like he was the nicest dog in the world. He would greet us at the door and sit around, acting like a well-mannered little dog. He would even let us pet him and play with him while we were there.

Sometimes Champ would lie under a table or sit in a corner and we would forget that he was in the house. We could go anywhere in the house that we wanted, and Champ wouldn’t even bark at us. We had a lot of fun when we were there. The problem was trying to get out of the door.

When one of us tried to leave, Champ became an entirely different dog. He would attack anyone that tried to walk out of the door. We could not understand how a dog could be so playful and friendly while we were in his house, and then attack us so viciously when we tried to leave.

That’s how Satan is. As long as you are in his house, he will do his best to make you feel comfortable. He wants you to feel welcome. He will let you think you are having fun while you are there. Sometimes he will lie under a table or hide in a corner so you won’t know that he is there.

He is just like Champ. You are welcome in his house. You can do whatever you want. You can drink all of the liquor, smoke all of the dope, or sleep with anyone you want. Just don’t try to leave. That’s when he will attack you with everything that he has. He does not want you to get to the door. Jesus is the door.

All of your problems won’t disappear, but He will help you face them. You don’t have to take my word. Just open the door.

Chump Change

In many of my sermons, books and speeches I talk about some of the people that I grew up with. Over the years I have talked about Fuzzy, Red, Tadpole, and even my dog Rex.

When I was in Chicago last month for my cousin’s funeral, Tadpole and I were talking about some of our old friends. During our conversation, we started talking about Chucky. I’ve known Chucky all of my life. We went to the same school, played the on the same sports teams, and fought together when gangs tried to takeover our neighborhood.

There was something else that I remember about Chucky. He was cheap. When we were teenagers, my friends and I would sometimes put our money together and buy beer or wine. All of us would chip in a dollar. But when it came to Chucky, all he would ever put in was a quarter. We would get mad and tell him he had to come up with some more money. But he would always say, “Sorry y’all, but all I’ve got is some chump change.”

We knew that Chucky had some money. After all, he received an allowance just like the rest of us. But whenever we were putting our money together to buy anything, all Chucky would ever come up with was some chump change.

In case you don’t know what chump change is, it is money that you don’t need. It is money that you can afford to throw away. It is what you have left after you have bought everything you want. It is what you give to the men and women that are on the street corners begging for spare change so they can get something to eat. It is also what many of us give to God every Sunday morning. Chump Change.

Oh yeah, we give God our leftovers. We furnish our beautiful homes, drive our expensive cars, and wear our designer clothes with our finest jewelry. We buy the best of everything for our children and go to the malls and shop till we drop. Then we go to church on Sunday morning and give God our chump change.

It is not only with our finances that we short change God. We give Him our chump change in other areas as well: our time, our talents, our worship and our praise. God loves us too much to give us His chump change. He gave us His best.

Are you giving God your best? Or are you just giving Him your chump change?

Wasted Gifts

I hate shopping. Can’t stand it. I don’t like to shop for food, clothing, furniture, appliances or anything else. I probably hold a record for the fastest time getting in and out of stores. What’s so ironic is, before I was called to full time ministry, I worked in stores. Most of my “legal” jobs were in retail sales and management. My livelihood depended on my ability to get people into my store and separate them from their money.

In those days, my favorite holidays were the ones that people spent a lot of money buying gifts. But I don’t look forward to those days anymore. Don’t get me wrong; I still love holidays, and I love giving gifts to people. I just hate the shopping part, especially if the gifts are not appreciated.

I always spend a lot of time and energy trying to find the perfect gifts for people. Most of the time I am successful and people appreciate the gifts that I give them. But sometimes I give people gifts that they don’t really want. I know they don’t want them because they never use them.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever given a special gift to someone that you love and they never use it? They never wear that sweater. They never use that gadget. They never play with that toy. That painting is still sitting in the closet collecting dust. How does that make you feel? Are you hurt or disappointed because they are wasting a perfectly good gift by not using it?

How do you think God feels when He gives us gifts that we don’t use? Our churches are filled with gifted singers, but many of our choir stands are half empty. We have some of the finest educators in our congregations, but we don’t have enough Sunday school classes because we can’t get enough teachers. Our members have been blessed with all kinds of gifts and talents, but many of our ministries are suffering due to the lack of volunteers.

Pastors are begging their congregants to get off of the pews and get involved in some kind of ministry. But Sunday after Sunday, we just sit there wasting the gifts that God has given us. God gave you that gift for a reason. Are you using your gift to bless someone? Or are you just wasting it?

Shattered Dreams

When I was a child, I was afraid to go down south. I saw the news reports on television about George Wallace, Bull Connors, and the Ku Klux Klan. I heard the stories of how they killed, lynched, and terrorized Black people.

I saw the magazine articles that described how they beat, shot, and gouged out the eyes of 14 year old Emmett Till before throwing him into the Tallahatchie River because he whistled at a white woman. I read about the bombing of The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama and how four little girls lost their lives because they went to Sunday school one morning.

I watched in horror as the police would sic vicious dogs on young black children because they wanted an education, and how black men and women were savagely beaten with nightsticks and sprayed with powerful water hoses because they wanted the right to vote.

The Klan did everything they could to shatter the dreams of an entire race of people. But there is a new kind of Klan in America. They don’t wear white sheets that hide their faces and they don’t carry burning torches. Instead, they wear baggy pants that expose their behinds and they carry AK47s. There is a new kind of Klan in America.

They don’t lynch our young boys for whistling at white women. They just drive down the street and shoot them down because they are standing on the wrong corner. There is a new kind of Klan in America.

They don’t kill our boys today because of the color of their skin. They kill them because of the color of their clothing. I’m telling you, there is a new kind of Klan in America today.

This new Klan does not terrorize our people by burning crosses in our front yards. They intimidate us by disfiguring our neighborhoods with gang graffiti. They don’t destroy our churches with bombs. They devastate them with burglaries. They disrespect our women by calling them B’s and H’s, and they disrespect the rest of us by calling us the N word.

In case you don’t know who the new Klan is, they are some of our young black men. They are destroying our communities and shattering the dreams of our people in ways that George Wallace, Bull Connors, or the original Klan never could.

In the days of the Civil Rights Movement, it was the church that stood up and fought for our people. But today, many of our churches have retreated to the safety of their sanctuaries. As a result, we are losing more and more of our young people to drugs, prison, or an early grave.

There was a time when our young people were filling the jails because they loved one another. Now they are filling the jails because they are killing one another. But African Americans are no more criminal than anyone else in this society. Yet, for as long as this country has existed, blacks have gone through this nation’s criminal justice system and have always been found wanting.

In St. Louis, Missouri, 97% of the population of the youth detention center is African American children. Our young men and young women feel that they have no stake in this society. They have become disenfranchised. They have no jobs and they see no future. Their dreams have been shattered. We are losing too many of our children. We have to embrace our young people and teach them how to dream again.

Roadwork Ahead

I was driving to work one morning when I realized that I had plenty of time to spare. It was a beautiful day and there was hardly any traffic on the highway. Since it was so early, I thought about all of the things that I would be able to do before starting my day. I could get a cup of coffee, read the morning paper or maybe even stop for a nice, hot breakfast.

I was rolling along, enjoying the ride and anticipating a nice, peaceful morning when all of a sudden I saw that dreaded, orange and black sign that said, “Roadwork Ahead.”

In no time at all, that wide-open highway turned into a huge parking lot. I inched along in stop and go traffic for several, painful miles. I had to cancel the plans that I had because of the work that was being done on the road that I was traveling on.

Sometimes we have to cancel or change our plans because God is working on the road that we are traveling on. Maybe that is why that relationship did not work. Maybe that is why you didn’t get that job. Maybe that is why you could not move into that dream house.

Sometimes things don’t workout because God is preparing something better for us. Sometimes they don’t work out because God is preparing us for what He has in store for us.

We all want to find success and happiness as fast as we can, but God knows the dangers and the pitfalls that lie ahead. So when things in your life are not working out as quickly as you would like, don’t get discouraged and give up. Just look for the sign that says, “Roadwork Ahead.”

The Devil Made Me Do It

Satan was sitting on the steps of a church one day with his head hung down. A passerby noticed him and asked what was wrong. With tears in his eyes, Satan looked up and said, “The people in that church are always lying on me.”

I know that Satan is the father of lies, but sometimes we lie on him and blame him for some of the bad decisions that we make. We give Satan more power than he actually has. He can tempt us, but he cannot make us do anything. It is human nature for us to make excuses or look for someone or something to blame when we mess up.

I was a career criminal for twenty-two years. During that period, I spent a lot of time in courtrooms. You cannot imagine some of the excuses that I have heard when people stood in front of the judge. I have told some doozies myself. Some of them worked. Some of them didn’t.

My favorite plea in court was, “Guilty, with an explanation.” In other words, I did it, but let me tell you why. Then I would attempt to shift the blame on circumstances that were beyond my control. I guess that was my way of saying, “The devil made me do it.”

It has always been hard for me to accept responsibility for my failures. When I flunked in school, I said the teachers didn’t like me. When I was on the baseball team and made an error, I said the sun was in my eyes. When I didn’t make my quota as a salesperson, I said our prices were too high. When I stepped outside of the will of God and did something that I knew was wrong, I said the devil made me do it.

We must accept responsibility and learn from our failures. I flunked in school because I didn’t study. I made the error on the field because I took my eyes off of the ball. I didn’t make my sales quota because I didn’t qualify the customers. I sinned against God because of a prayerless life.

Let’s stop making excuses and strive to do our very best. Don’t goof off at work just because your boss is not looking. Don’t cheat on a test because you didn’t study. Don’t sin against God because He is merciful.

My father’s favorite saying was, “If a task is once begun, never leave it till it’s done. Be the labor, great or small, do it well or not at all.”

The Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” The devil never made me do anything. I did it because I wanted to.

The Spotter

One day a little boy whispered a prayer to God. He said, “Dear God. So far today I have been pretty good. I haven’t gossiped or lost my temper. I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I am thankful for that. But in a few minutes, I am going to get out of bed. From that point on, I’m probably going to need a lot more help. Amen.”

We must learn to depend on God and trust Him in all things. He is the one that gives us our strength. He is the one that sustains us through adversity. He is the one that leads us in the path of righteousness. David said, “The Lord is the strength of my life.”

When I was in prison, I used to lift weights with some of the inmates that were in the yard. One of the first things that I learned was to always have a spotter if I was going to bench press a lot of weight. The spotter’s job is to stand over you and help you lift the barbell if the load is too heavy. Sometimes the spotter will just help you guide the barbell back on the stand. But sometimes he will take the weight completely off of you and put the barbell on the stand himself.

One afternoon I wanted to go to the yard and lift weights. It was very hot that day, so no one else wanted to go outside. So I went alone. There was some weight that I had wanted to lift for quite some time, but was afraid to try because I didn’t want anyone to see me if I failed. I decided to try it while no one was around. That way, if I couldn’t do it, no one would know.

I put the weights on the bar, laid back on the bench, and lifted the bar off of the stand. I lowered the bar onto my chest, but I was only able to lift it half way up. I lowered the bar onto my chest again but was unable to lift it. I realized that I was in trouble and needed a spotter. Somehow, I managed to roll the bar down my stomach, past my thighs and onto the ground. I never tried to bench press any weights without a spotter again.

God is our spotter. He watches over us everyday. Sometimes He just helps us with our burdens. But sometimes He takes them completely off of us. Is your load too heavy? Are your troubles and worries weighing you down? Don’t try to do it alone. Trust the spotter.

Burned Bridges

A wolf fled from a forest and ran into a village in great fear. Hunters and a pack of hounds were after him. Desperately, he looked for an opening in the city’s walls but found that every gate was closed.

When he looked up, he saw a cat sitting on top of the wall. He asked the cat which of the neighboring farmers might be sympathetic and hide him from the hunters. The cat said, “Go to Mr. Drucker’s farm at the north end of the village. He is a kind and generous man.”

“I can’t go there,” said the wolf. “I recently tore the skin off one of his sheep.” As the sound of barking dogs drew nearer, the cat said, “Then go to the west side of the village to Old Man Bill’s farm.”

“I’m afraid he is angry with me too,” said the wolf. “I carried off one of his kids last week.” “Then go to the south,” said the cat. “Henry’s farm is not far away.” “Henry is still upset with me from last spring,” said the wolf. “He threatened to kill me over one of his lambs.”

“There is really only one other possibility,” said the cat. “Daniel’s farm is on the other side of the woods. If you hurry, you can make it.” “I don’t think Daniel is a good choice either,” said the wolf. “I killed one of his calves two weeks ago.” The cat slowly shook his head and said, “Those are the most patient farmers in our area. Apparently you have burned a lot of bridges around here. It looks like you are on your own.”

I don’t know about you, but I have burned a lot of bridges in my life. Some of them were with friends, neighbors, relatives, even my own children. But there is one who can rebuild any bridge, no matter how badly it has been burned. His name is Jesus Christ. He did it for me. He can do it for you too. After all, He rebuilt the bridge that was burned between God and us.

Burned bridges destroy families, friendships and relationships. Have you burned any bridges? Do you want to rebuild them? Ask Jesus to help you. Don’t wait until it is too late.

Let Your Light Shine

One of my cousins gave me a beautiful plant as a house-warming gift. I placed it in a nice corner where it could be admired by anyone who visited.

After a few days, I noticed that my plant was dying. I thought I wasn’t giving it enough water, so I started watering it more, but the plant kept dying. Then I thought that I might be giving it too much water, so I started watering it less, but the plant kept dying.

Everyday, when I got home from work or from church, I saw more leaves lying on the floor. I kept asking myself, “What’s wrong with this thing? Why is it dying?” Finally, it dawned on me. There was no light in that corner of the house. My beautiful plant was dying because I left it in the dark.

That made me think. How many people are dying because I have left them in the dark? How many of my friends, family members or people that I come into contact with everyday are living in a world of hopelessness because I have left them in the dark?

Let me ask you something. When you are on your way home from work or from church and you see a prostitute walking the streets, do you ask yourself, “What’s wrong with her?” How many times have you driven down the street and saw a group of young boys selling drugs? Did you just shake your head and say, “What’s wrong with them?”

I have done it more times than I care to admit. But now, when I see someone who is obviously lost and on their way to hell, I remember my plant. So instead of wondering, what’s wrong with them, I ask myself, “How can I lead them to the light?”

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” So let your light shine. When you’re at home, let your light shine. When you’re at work, let your light shine. Wherever you are, let your light shine.

God Is Good

Two men set out on a journey together. They took a donkey to carry their packets, a torch to light their way in the night, and a rooster, who was a friend to the donkey. The rooster sat on the donkey’s head during the entire journey.

One of the men was a Christian; the other was a skeptic. During their journey, the Christian frequently talked about the Lord. “In all things, God is good,” he said. But the skeptic just said, “We’ll see.”

Shortly before dark, they arrived in a small village and looked for a place to sleep. Despite their frequent requests, no one offered them a night’s lodging. Reluctantly, they went about a mile outside of town, where they decided to sleep.

“I thought you said God is good,” said the skeptic. The Christian said, “God has decided this is the best place for us to sleep tonight.” So they fixed their beds under a large tree just off the main road.

As they were about to light the torch, they heard a terrible noise. A lion had killed the donkey and carried it away. Quickly, the men climbed the tree. “Do you still say God is good?” asked the skeptic. The Christian said, “If the lion hadn’t eaten the donkey, he would have attacked us. God is Good.”

Moments later, a cry from the rooster sent them further up the tree. When they looked down, they saw a wildcat carrying the rooster away in his teeth. The Skeptic looked at the Christian. Before he could say anything, the Christian said, “The cry of the rooster saved us again. God is good.”

A few minutes later, a strong wind blew out the torch, and the men were left in total darkness. By now, even the Christian was starting to wonder why God was allowing all of this to happen to them.

The next morning the two men walked into the village to buy some food. They discovered that a large band of outlaws had swept into town the previous night, robbed the entire village and killed all of the men.

When the Christian heard that, he turned to his friend and said, “It is all clear now. If we had been given a room in the village last night, we would have been killed too. If we hadn’t slept in that tree and the wind hadn’t blown out our torch, the bandits would have seen us. So in all things, God is good.”

No matter what you are going through right now or how bad things look. Just remember, God is good.

Don’t Forget Who You Are

I have discovered that more and more fast food restaurants have started asking customers for their names when they place an order. Sometimes the clerk will just write the customer’s name on the ticket and call them when their order is ready. Other times, they will announce the customer to the rest of the crew and have all of them say, “Hello,” in unison.

This has been going on at McDonalds and a few other restaurants for quite some time. But lately, some of the White Castles franchises have been doing it as well. Most of the times, when they ask my name, I say, “B.B.” But sometimes, I just say the first name that comes to mind. I might say Willie, George, Joseph, Donald or anything.

I had placed my order one day and was waiting for my food. The clerk had called a name several times, but no one stepped forward. Then the clerk looked at me and said, “Excuse me Sir. What is your name?” I could not remember the name that I had given them when I placed my order. After thinking for a few seconds, I looked at her and said, “I don’t know.” She said, “You don’t know what your name is?” I said, “I forgot?” When I told her what I had ordered, she gave me my food.

When I got to my car, I remembered what my father used to say when I was leaving the house or going somewhere with my friends. He would look at me and say, “Don’t forget who you are.” I knew exactly what that meant. I better act like I’d had some “home training” and not embarrass him or my family.

Sometimes Christians forget who we are when we get around certain people or find ourselves in certain situations. We forget about the “home training” that we learned in church or in Sunday school. When we are at work, at school, at the mall or hanging out with our friends, we don’t act like we are members of God’s family. Consequently, we embarrass our God, our church, our pastor and ourselves.

When you are leaving church this Sunday, if you listen very closely, you might hear God say, “Don’t forget who you are.”

Tell The Story

I love stories. When someone starts to tell one, my face lights up, my ears automatically tune in, and they obtain my undivided attention. It all started when I was a child watching Rocky and Bullwinkle. There was a segment of the show that featured Aesop telling his son a fable each week.

My fascination continued when I was a teenager, and my friends and I sat around, swapping ghost stories. Years later, one of my uncles started telling some stories one evening when I was visiting relatives in St. Louis. I had just been called into the ministry, so I started using some of them in my sermons.

Over the years, I have acquired hundreds of stories. Some of them came from experiences in my life. Some of them are fables or stories that I have written. But I got most of them from storybooks or listening to other preachers or speakers. But out of all the stories that I have in my arsenal, I have discovered that the most powerful story that I have is the one that Jesus gave me. It is my testimony. It is the story of how God saved my soul.

You have a story too. When God delivered you from your sins, He gave you a story to tell, so tell the story. Someone is going through some of the same stuff that you went through and they need to hear your story, so don't be afraid to tell it. Tell the story. When you are on your job, tell the story. When you are sitting in the restaurant, tell the story. When you are at the barbershop or in the beauty shop, tell the story. Every time you get a chance, tell the story.

After you tell your story, don't forget to tell the Gospel story. Tell the story of how Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, and He was bruised for our iniquities. Tell the story of how He hung on an old Roman cross from the sixth to the ninth hour. Tell the story of how the sun refused to shine, because two Sons couldn't shine at the same time.

Tell the story of how He was buried in a borrowed tomb. But don't let the story end there. Be sure to tell the rest of the story, because early that Sunday morning, He got up from the grave, with all power in His hands.

Tell the story!

Stay In Your Lane

I love watching judge shows on television. Some of my favorites are: Judge Mathis, Judge Judy and Judge Alex. But the show that I like the best is Judge Karen. One of her most popular sayings is, “Stay in your lane.” Sometimes, one of the litigants will get overzealous while presenting his or her case and try to do the judge’s job. When that happens, Judge Karen says, “Stay in your lane. I know what I’m doing.” Judge Karen has a book with the same title, “Stay in your lane.”

Many of us have been guilty of trying to do someone else’s job. It not only happens in the secular world, it happens in many of our churches as well. We try to tell the pastor how to lead his flock. We want to tell the deacons how to minister to the congregation. We attempt to tell the minister of music which songs the choir should sing. We even have the audacity to try to tell God how to get us out of the mess that we have gotten ourselves into.

Our problem is, we want to be in charge of everything. We think we have all of the answers. We don’t want to relinquish control of our lives to anyone. Not even to God. When things don’t go the way we would like, we want to question God. I have seen people blame God for everything from the loss of a loved one, to the loss of a job.

God loves us and He knows what is best for us. We all go through difficult situations sometimes, but we cannot blame God every time things don’t go our way. I must admit, there were times when I was guilty of doing this.

The next time you want to tell God how to do His job, I suggest you read what God said in Job 38:4. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” In other words, “Stay in your lane.”

Can We All Just Get Along?

These were the famous words of Rodney King in 1992 after the Los Angeles riots. As you may know, Mr. King was the victim of a vicious act of police brutality that was caught on tape. The officers that were involved were later tried and acquitted by an all white jury.

The verdict brought outrage to millions of African Americans across the country and resulted in one of the deadliest riots in the history of Los Angeles. There were 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires and the damage or loss of more than 3,100 businesses.

That was a dark period in our nation, but the darkness has not subsided in this country. All across America, thousands of young men are being gunned down on the streets of our cities. The sound of gunfire is all too common in many of our communities. There are more gangs in this country than there are religious denominations.

What is our response? What is the church doing? What are the community leaders and politicians doing? More importantly, what are the parents and the people in our communities doing? We are the ones that are affected the most. It is our sons that are being stuffed into body bags every night. It is our children that cannot play in front of their homes. It is our seniors that are afraid to sit on their porches.

Instead of standing up and taking back our communities, we have bought into the philosophy of the streets, “Quit Snitchin.” We have become a society of people that are afraid to get involved. Therefore, our communities are suffering and our children are being carried off to cemeteries and penitentiaries.

When I was a child, there was a public service announcement that came on television every night. It said, “It is 10:30. Do you know where your children are?” But now, night after night, many of our children are wondering where their parents are.

I started this message with the words of Rodney King, “Can we all just get along?” I want to end it with the words of another man whose last name was King. In a speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted the Irish political philosopher, Edmond Burke by saying, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

My question is simple. What are you doing?

Come Back Home

When I was a child, a little boy named Michael lived next door to us. Michael was a bad little boy. He would do things that would aggravate the older boys and then he would run. Michael used to make us so angry. It wasn’t bad enough that he would do things to us. The worst thing was, while we were chasing Michael, he would be laughing. I don’t care how hard we tried, we could not catch him. I hated that little boy.

One day, Michael did something to me and started running. But that time, I caught him. I started beating him, and beating him and beating him. When I finished beating him, he went in his house, crying. I didn’t care. I was glad that I had finally caught Michael. Suddenly, it dawned on me. I had one little brother, but Michael had four big brothers. They were not just bigger than Michael. They were bigger than me too! I didn’t feel all that good anymore. I went in my house and hid in my bedroom.

About an hour later, while we were eating dinner, the doorbell rang. I thought it was Michael’s brothers, so I jumped up and ran out the back door. My father found me hiding on the back porch and asked me what was wrong. I told him what I had done and I was afraid that Michael’s brothers were coming to get me. My father put his arms around me and said, “Son. When you are in trouble, you are supposed to run to your house, not away from your house.”

When we mess up or get into trouble, many of us run away from God and the church. We are ashamed and afraid of what people in the church will say or think of us. We feel bad because we found out that we are not as holy as we thought we were. Sometime we even doubt our salvation. You must remember that no one is perfect. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3: 23)

When we mess up, we are supposed to run to God and the church, not away from God and the church. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1: 9)

If you are one of the runaways, it’s time to come back home.

The Cross Room

In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to his disciples, “If any man desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” But many of us look for the easy, painless road. Whenever we face a challenge or any difficulty, we want to quit.

A man became overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations that he was going through, so he complained to the Lord. He said, Lord, this cross is too much for me to bear. I just can’t handle it anymore.” The Lord said, “OK. Just lay it in the corner, go into the cross room and pick out another one.”

The man was surprised and elated when he heard that. He said, “Do you mean I can choose any cross that I want?” God said, “Yes, my son. You can choose any cross that’s in the room.” The man was happy. He was finally going to get rid of that big, heavy cross.

But when he walked into the cross room, he was amazed at what he saw. There were thousands of huge, enormous crosses. Some of them were so tall; he couldn’t see the top of them. Some were so wide; he couldn’t see around them. He could not believe how big, heavy and rugged the crosses were.

Finally, the man spotted a tiny cross that was lying in a corner. He was so excited; he ran over and picked it up. He had found the perfect cross. He told the Lord that he had found the cross that he wanted. God asked him if he was sure that he wanted that particular cross. The man said, “Yes Lord. This is the cross I want.” The Lord said, “OK my son. You can have that one. But I must tell you, that is the same cross that you came in here with.”

The next time you want to complain about how difficult your Christian journey is, step into the cross room.

The Letter

I once heard a story about a man that went away on a very long journey. Before he left, he wrote a letter to the woman that he loved, promising to return to her one day. While he was away, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years.

Sometimes, the young lady felt sad, lonely, and depressed. Her friends and even her family members teased her and call her a fool for waiting so long for the man to return. Whenever she got to the point that she thought she just could not take any more, she would get the letter that her lover had given her, and read it.

Then one day, the man she loved finally returned. What a celebration they had. While they were talking, he asked her how was it that she was able to wait so long for him.

She said, “I see that even you don’t understand. It was your letter. That’s what kept me going all of these years. That’s what gave me the faith that I needed. It was your letter.”

Jesus went away a long time ago, but He gave us a letter. It is called The Holy Bible. If you are wondering if He loves you, read your letter. He said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34) If you want to know how much He loves you, read your letter. He said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” (John 3:16)

If you are sad because you don’t have any friends, read your letter. He said, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:14) If you are wondering if your pain and tears will ever end, read your letter. It says, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain.” (Revelation 21:4)

No matter what you are going through, you will find comfort in your letter if you read it.

Give The Ball To Calhoun

Brian Cavanaugh told the story about an important football game. One team was much larger than the other. The coach for the smaller team saw that his team was not able to contain or block the larger team, so he decided to call plays that went to Calhoun, the fastest back in the area.

The coach told his quarterback to give the ball to Calhoun and let him run with it. The team ran the first play, but Calhoun did not get the ball. The second play was again signaled for Calhoun, but once again Calhoun did not get the ball. Now the game was in the final seconds. The smaller team’s only hope was for Calhoun to break free and score the winning touchdown.

The team ran the third play, but again Calhoun did not get the ball. The coach was very upset. They were facing the fourth and final play of the game. Again, the coach sent in the play that was designed for Calhoun to run the ball. The ball was snapped, but the quarterback was sacked. The game ended without Calhoun ever touching the ball.

The coach was furious with the quarterback. He said, “I told you four times to give the ball to Calhoun. Now we have lost the game. Why didn’t you give the ball to Calhoun?” The quarterback said, “I tried to give the ball to Calhoun four times. The problem was, Calhoun didn’t want the ball.”

Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that the job of the pastor is to prepare God’s people for works of service. But instead of doing our part, we expect the pastor to do everything. Christianity is not a spectator sport. It is a team effort. God is the coach and the pastor is the quarterback.

Time and time again, God has called a play that was designed just for you. He told your pastor to give the ball to you. But some of you are like Calhoun. You don’t want the ball. You don’t want to sing in the choir. You don’t want to do outreach. You don’t want to teach a Sunday school class. You don’t want to serve with the ushers, the greeters, the youth workers, the food pantry or any other ministry.

You have an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. It will be a shame if that person is lost because you don’t want the ball.

What Did The Turkey Do?

A lady went into a pet store one day to purchase a parrot to keep her company. The shopkeeper told her that the only parrot that he had was once owned by a sailor, and his language was very filthy. The lady believed she could change the parrot’s attitude and vocabulary by showing him love and affection. But when she got home, she found out that the parrot’s profanity was worse than she had thought.

She became so frustrated; she put the parrot in the freezer for several minutes hoping that would teach him a lesson. When she took him out, she asked the parrot if he was sorry for the way he had acted. He said he was and promised not to use that kind of language anymore.

The lady came home from work one day and the parrot started cursing at her. She put the parrot in the freezer again, this time for an hour. When she took him out, he was cold and shivering. She asked him if he had learned his lesson this time. The parrot said that he had, and again, he promised never to use that kind of language again.

A few weeks later, the lady was late getting home from work. The parrot was upset because his supper was late, so he cursed the lady out, using words that she had never heard before. She became so angry; she threw the parrot back in the freezer. Then she went to the grocery store to finish shopping for her Thanksgiving dinner. She returned a few hours later and remembered that the parrot was in the freezer. When she took him out, he had almost frozen to death.

She put him in his cage and asked, “Have you learned your lesson this time?” The parrot said, “Yes Ma’am.” She said, “Are you going to be good?” The parrot said, “Yes Ma’am.” She asked, “Are you going to use that filthy language anymore?” The parrot said, “No Ma’am.” The lady said, “Don’t make me put you in that freezer again.” The parrot said, “Yes Ma’am.” As the lady was walking away, the parrot said, “Excuse me Ma’am. Can I ask you something?” The lady said that he could. With a shaky voice, the parrot asked, “What did the turkey do?”

When misfortune falls upon someone, some of us tend to think it was brought on because of something that person had done. If you lose your health, your house or your happiness, some people will speculate and wonder what you did to deserve such adversity. If you are not careful, you might find yourself wondering the same thing.

Troubles, heartaches and pain are a part of life. God never promised you carefree living. But He did promise never to leave you alone. Sometimes, like the parrot, we bring things on ourselves because of our disobedience. But sometimes we get caught up in situations that are beyond our control. Job was going about his daily routine and lost everything that he had. Joseph was looking for his brothers and was sold into slavery. John The Baptist was preaching the Gospel and was beheaded. The turkey went for a walk when it was too close to Thanksgiving and ended up in a freezer. Stuff happens.

When you see someone who is going through some kind of hardship, instead of wondering what they did to deserve it, ask God for wisdom and strength to help them.

Keep Fighting Until The Bell Rings

My church had our Christian Education Institute last week and I was one of the instructors. Each night, there was a lecture period before the classes began. There was a timekeeper in the front office that rang a bell when classes were supposed to end. It was a long, busy week; therefore, many of us were extremely tired.

On Thursday night, the lecture period went over a little. Since the classes started later, someone went to all of the classrooms and told the instructors that we were going to dismiss a little later. She said, “Just keep going until the bell rings.” Although we only went over a few minutes, it seemed more like it was a few hours. I kept thinking to myself, “When is the bell going to ring.”

When I got home that night, I thought about my brief boxing career while I was in the U.S. Marines. During one of my fights, my opponent gave me all that I could handle, and more. Since he was smaller than me, I thought I was going to have an easy victory. Nothing was farther from the truth. We went toe to toe during the entire fight. When the final round was about to begin, my corner man said that I was ahead on points. To win the fight, all I had to do was fight until the bell rings.

That was the longest round that I had ever fought. I think my opponent turned into Popeye and his corner man gave him some spinach before the last round started. I was hitting him with everything I had, but my punches no longer fazed him. His punches felt like giant boulders, coming from every direction. I was ready to quit, but I kept hearing my corner man yelling, “Keep fighting until the bell rings.” I was thinking to myself, “When is the bell going to ring?” When the fight was over, I found out that I had barely won. That was my third and final fight.

The Apostle Paul wrote most of the books that are in the New Testament, but he had some major battles and suffered quite a few disappointments during his Christian journey. But at the end, he was able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Paul didn’t stop fighting until the bell had rung.

We all go through difficult situations. You might be going through something right now. You might be in the toughest fight that you have experienced as a Christian. You might even be questioning your faith or wondering if the Lord is with you. Just remember, Jesus is your corner man. He is saying, “Keep fighting until the bell rings.”

Stop Worrying

When I was a child, we used to travel from Chicago to visit our relatives in St. Louis every summer. I always liked going to my Uncle Johnny’s house because he had a big back yard with swings, apple trees and grass to play on. The rest of my family lived in flats, apartment buildings or projects and we had to play in the streets and alleys.

One summer, my brother and I made some sling shots out of some clothe hangers and rubber bands. We went to the back yard and started shooting rocks at apples, soda cans, or anything else that we could find. I was a terrible shot. I missed everything that I shot at.

Then I saw a bird that was perched on one of the branches. I put a rock in my sling, aimed at the bird and let the rock fly through the air. To my surprise, the bird fell to the ground. When I looked at his lifeless body, a feeling of guilt and shame came over me. I went in the house to tell my mother what I had done, hoping I would feel better. But what I saw made me feel worse. My mother and my aunt were standing in the kitchen, crying. The hospital had just called and told them that my grandfather had died. I thought God had killed my grandfather because I had killed one of his birds. There was no way that I was going to tell my mother that her father was dead because of me.

During the funeral, I was seated in the chair that was next to the aisle. Since the casket was closed when we marched in, I didn’t know that my grandfather’s body was already in there. I thought they were going to roll him down the aisle on a gurney and put him in the casket after the sermon. I spent the entire service worrying that he was going to grab my arm when they rolled him past me because I had killed him. When they started opening the casket, I looked over my shoulder and started crying and shaking uncontrollably. When I saw my grandfather was already in the casket, I realized that I had been worrying for nothing.

You might think that I was just a crazy, mixed-up child for worrying about something that was so silly. But most of the things that we worry about are just as silly, if we are Christians. Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.” (Matt. 6: 25) In verse 26, He said, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Finally, in verse 34, He said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

But we still worry about things that we have no control over. We worry about our health, our jobs, our bills, our children, our parents, the economy, the elections and many other things. Some of us have become sick because of worry. Did you know that 80% of the things that we worry about never happens?

Peter told us to cast all of our cares on Jesus because He cares about us. Worry doesn’t rid tomorrow of its sorrows, it just robs today of its joy. So stop worrying and enjoy the life that God has given you.

The Gift Of Love

One of my favorite storytellers, William R. White, told a story that’s origin is found in Jewish oral tradition. After making a few changes, I have told this story in churches and prisons all across this country.

When God had nearly finished the act of creation, an announcement was made that the only thing left was to create a creature that is capable of understanding and marveling in the greatness of God. “They will be called humans,” God said. “They will not only be on earth, but they will be created in my image. They will have reason, intellect and understanding.”

But Truth approached the Almighty God, pleading with Him not to create humans. “Oh God,” Truth said. “I ask you to refrain from calling into being a creature that is capable of lying. The last thing we need is to have a world full of deception and fraud.”

Then Peace came forward to support Truth’s cause. “Oh Lord,” he said. “I beg you not to create creatures that will disturb the harmony of your creation. I fear that these humans will act with revenge and initiate war.”

Justice stepped forward. He said, “Dear Lord, I must agree with Truth and Peace. I think you will be making a huge mistake by creating humans. Before long they will be robbing, stealing and killing each other. Then this beautiful world that you have created will be full of jails and prisons.”

While they were pleading their case against the creation of man, the soft voice of Love asked to be heard. He said, “Dear God, I know that any being that is created in your likeness will have the capacity to perform great deeds. Filled with your Spirit they will comfort the sick, visit the lonely, and provide shelter for the homeless. They will even minister to the prisoners that Justice spoke of. Such a being could not help but bring glory to you, Oh Lord.”

Although the Lord listened to the voices of Truth, Peace and Justice before He made His final decision, it was because of Love that human beings were created.

When God created man, He did not create a perfect being. He did not create people that are incapable of sinning. But because of His love for us, He is willing to forgive us for our sins if we ask Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Count Your Blessings

William R. White told a story about two merchants that were fierce competitors in a large town. Their stores were across the street from each other. The merchants didn’t measure the success of their business by daily or weekly profits. Their only concern was doing more business than the other. If a customer made a purchase at the store of one merchant, he would taunt his competitor when the sale was complete. The rivalry grew more and more every year.

One day God sent an angel to one of the merchants with an offer. “The Lord has chosen to give you a great gift,” said the angel. “He will give you anything you want. You can have riches, long life, healthy children or anything you desire. Just ask and it is yours. But there is one condition,” the angel said. “Whatever you receive, your competitor will get twice as much. If you ask for a million dollars, he will receive two million. If you become famous, he will become twice as famous. If your business grows to ten stores, his will grow to twenty.” The angel smiled and said, “This is God’s way of teaching you a lesson.”

The merchant thought for a few minutes. Then he said, “Let me make sure I understand what you are saying. You will give me anything that I ask for. But whatever I receive, my competitor will get double. Is that right?” The angel said, “That is correct.” The merchant smiled and said, “My request is that you strike me blind in one eye.”

God wants us to be the best that we can be and use the gifts and talents that He gave us to bless others. But sometimes we lose our focus and look at everything and everyone as our competition. We want the biggest house, the fanciest car, or the largest church.

Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. God is not concerned with what you have or what you accomplish. He is concerned with how you use what He has given you. Learn to count your blessings instead of comparing them.

FILM BASED ON REV. BURTON BARR JR’S LIFE AND MEMOIR “THE HOODLUM PREACHER” COMING SOON!

“Shattered Dreams”

Chapter 17 of “Amazing Grace: The Storm Is Passing Over”

by Rev. Burton Barr Jr. & KOBALT BOOKS

It was the day before Thanksgiving in1975. I was on a small-chartered plane that was flying over Amarillo, Texas. The pilot had just announced that we were going to make an emergency landing. I can remember thinking to myself, "I don't want to die like this. Not here. Not now. Then again, what difference does it make if my life is over with anyway".

You see, the plane that I was on was headed to the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth. As I sat there, chained and shackled to eight other prisoners, my mind began to wonder. What happened? How did I mess my life up so badly? What happened to all of the hopes and dreams that I had once had? I began thinking that it might be better if the plane did crash, and shatter into a thousand pieces, just like my dreams had. Shattered Dreams.

I was at the lowest point of my life. I was a high school drop out with a drug problem and a bad conduct discharge from the Marines. Now, I was sitting on a plane headed to one of the most notorious prisons in this country on the day before Thanksgiving. I thought to myself, “What do I have to be thankful for?” Shattered Dreams.

Oh yes, just like everyone else, I had dreams, but now, all I could do was just sit there, almost in a state of shock, wondering how I had gotten to this point. What had I done to deserve a seat on this plane?

I was not a hardened criminal, and I wasn't a bad person. I had grown up in a nice Christian home with a mother and father who loved me. My father was even providing for my college education while I was still in grammar school. So why was I sitting on a plane, on my way to prison with a federal record, instead of sitting on a plane, on my way home with a college degree. Shattered Dreams.

After we made the emergency landing in Amarillo, we sat on the plane for several hours while the mechanics made the necessary repairs. While we were sitting there, my mind went back to the Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago. I could see myself sitting there on the front pew with my grandmother and listening to Rev. Murphy.

I could see myself standing in the Baptismal pool at age nine, staring into Rev. Murphy's face as he was about to baptize me, and thinking to myself that one day I was going to be like him. I must have been dreaming because I could just feel the pride that I had as I stood at my post as a junior usher.

I could even remember the feeling I had years later, when at age 17, I stood in the pulpit of the Galatians Missionary Baptist Church and preached my trial sermon about Daniel in the lion’s den. I was so desperately hoping that this was not a dream, because there I was, a teenager again, fellowshipping and hanging out with all of my Christian friends.

My life had meaning again. I felt like I could dream again. Dream of being a doctor. Dream of being a lawyer, an engineer, or anything I wanted to be, until I felt a sharp pain in my right knee. When I opened my eyes, I saw one of the prison guards standing over me holding a nightstick in his hand and telling me to fasten my seat belt. We were about to take off again.

When I looked around I quickly realized that I was not a teenager again. I was not in Church and these were not my Christian friends. I could forget about the dreams I had about becoming a doctor, or a lawyer, or anything else for that matter. It had all been just a dream. Now the plane had been repaired and I was on my way to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary where I would have to trade my dreams in for a uniform with the numbers 59698. Shattered Dreams.

I want to ask you something. Do you have a dream? What is your destination in life? What are your goals? What are your objectives? Do you have a dream?

In the 37th chapter of Genesis, we see that Joseph had a dream, and he went through slavery and prison, but even with all that, he still knew that he was going to be somebody. Some of you have gone through some difficult situations as well. Maybe it was in your home. Maybe it was at your school. Maybe it was on the block while you were hanging with some of your partners. Maybe you’ve been experimenting with some things that you know you had no business messing with. Or you’ve been doing some things that you know is wrong. Now you are confused because your life is in shambles and you don’t know what to do.

Well I want to tell you something. Your life is not over with. I don’t care what anybody tells you, you can still be somebody. So don't let anything stop you from dreaming and don't let anyone discourage you from perusing your dreams.

If there was ever someone who should have been discouraged from dreaming, it was Joseph. Let us take just a minute or two and look at a portion of his story. Some people probably thought Joseph had no business dreaming in the first place. You see, in Israel, it was the firstborn son who was loved in a special way by his parents and he inherited special rights and privileges.

His Birthright was a double portion of the estate and the leadership of the family, but Joseph was not the first-born. As a matter of fact, he was the 11th of twelve sons. So what right did he have to dream? What made him think that he could possibly be somebody?

Some people feel that you don't have a right to dream either. They think you are just wasting your time dreaming of being a politician, an entrepreneur, or CEO of some major corporation. Your skin is the wrong color, your parents don’t belong to the right club, or you were born on the wrong side of the tracks.

Oh yeah, they will try to keep you from dreaming, but I dare you to dream anyway. Dream as big as you can, and then place your dreams in the hands of God and watch what happens.

There was another group of people who thought Joseph had no business dreaming. They were his brothers. In fact, they hated him because he had dreams, but you don't have to take my word for it. Just look at the last part of verse 8. It says, “And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." He had told them that he was going to be somebody. Now, you would think that if anyone were going to be on your side, and want to see you succeed, it would be your family or those closest to you. Am I right?

However, there are some people who don't want anything out of life, and they don't want to see you with anything either. They are satisfied right where they are. Sometimes those are the ones that are closest to you, your friends, your family members or your classmates. They cannot see any further than where they are right now. They look at their surroundings and they believe that the only way that they can make it is by running with a gang, selling drugs, or ripping off their own people. They think that going to jail is a badge of honor. They have no hope. They have no vision. They have no dreams.

I once read that when a flea trainer is training his fleas, he places them in a jar. When he first puts them in there, they jump out because fleas are incredible jumpers. I mean, they can jump so high, that sometimes it looks like they can fly.

The training begins when he puts a lid on the jar. The fleas continue to jump, but when they do, they hit their heads on the lid over, and over, and over again. So after a while, the fleas continue to jump, but they no longer jump as high as they can, because they don’t want to bump their heads anymore.

Now the trainer can remove the lid from the jar, and when he does, the fleas will continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the jar. Actually, they won’t jump out because they no longer can jump out because they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Now, that is all they can do.

Some of you have conditioned yourselves to jump just so high because every time you have tried to jump any higher than that you have bumped your heads. You have bumped your heads on racism. You have bumped your heads on peer pressure. You have bumped your heads on people telling you what you could not do and what you could not be. You have bumped your heads over, and over, and over again because Satan had placed a lid over your dreams.

Well I want to serve notice on you. When Jesus died on the cross one Friday, Satan thought he had shattered His dreams too. But early that Sunday morning, when He stepped out of the grave, not only was the stone removed from the entrance to the tomb, but the lid was removed from above your dreams. That is why the Apostle Paul was able to say, "I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13)

So don't be afraid to aim high. Aim as high as you can. One of my former Pastors, Rev. Joseph Jones, used to say, “While you are aiming, aim for the stars, and if you fall upon the moon you will still be on higher ground.” So aim high.

Joseph was not afraid to aim high, but there will always be someone who is jealous of what they may see in you and they will stop at nothing to try to destroy you and your dreams. Just look at verses 19 and 20 says, "And they said one to another, ‘Here comes that dreamer. Come now, let’s kill him, and throw him into some pit, and we will say, some evil beast has devoured him. Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

I want to let you in on a little secret. Sometimes you have to stop watching your enemies so close and start watching your back when your friends come around. Some of them are the real player haters. There are so many people whose dreams have been shattered by their friends.

I don't know of anyone who got their first cigarette or their first joint from one of their enemies. You never see a man standing on the corner drinking whiskey or wine with one of his enemies. It is not a person’s enemy who talks them into smoking crack. It is not a person’s enemy who gets them to cut class. It is not a girl’s enemy that gets her pregnant. It is not a boy’s enemy who convinces him to join a gang. It is not a person’s enemy that can destroy his or her dreams in such a way, because no one would let their enemies get that close to them.

Only a friend, a very close friend, someone that you love and trust can get close enough to you to destroy your dreams in such a manner. So what are you saying, preacher? I’m simply saying that sometimes you have to take a step back and take a real hard look at the people that you call your friends.

My father tried to tell me that. He said, “Son. That crowd you’re hanging out with don’t mean you any good.” I wouldn’t listen. I said, “Dad. You don’t know what you’re talking about. These are my friends.” I found out that he was right, because when I was in Cook County Jail, there were so many times that I sat there wondering, “Where are my friends now?”

When the guards were passing out the mail and they would walk pass my cell because I did not have any, I wondered, “Where are my friends now?”

On visiting days, I wanted somebody to come and see me, but I just sat there, trying to pretend that I wasn’t hurting when my number wasn’t called because no one cared enough to come. Many times, I just sat there in my cell, fighting back the tears, and wondering, “Where are my friends now?”

Sometimes I would think about all of the money I had thrown away on drugs, alcohol and wild parties trying to buy somebody’s friendship. Now I couldn’t even afford to buy a bar of soap to wash my face. I wondered, “Where are my friends now?”

In verse 27, we read that Joseph's brothers decided not to kill him, but to sell him into slavery. They decided to compromise. That way, they could destroy his dreams without taking his life. We see in verse 28 that they sold him to the Ishmaelites and he was taken to Egypt.

Let me ask you something. Are you on your way to Egypt? Have you allowed your dreams to be compromised and now you have found yourself in slavery to some drug that’s ruining your life? Are you on your way to Egypt? Have you let someone convince you that you will never be anybody, or amount to anything? Are you on your way to Egypt? Do you think that it's OK to disobey your parents? Is it OK to lie, to cheat, and to steal, just because everybody else is doing it? Are you on your way to Egypt?

The last point that I want to make is that Joseph was not afraid to say no. In chapter 39, we see that Joseph had been sold to Potiphar, who was one of Pharaoh's officials and the captain of the guard.

The Bible says that the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. In the New International Version, Verse 7 says "and after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 'come to bed with Me.' but he refused." Joseph said, No. He knew what was at stake here. It was his relationship with God.

Oh yeah, Joseph was a dreamer, but he knew who gave him the ability to dream. It was God, and as long as he had a relationship with God, he knew that he could still dream, no matter what his situation or circumstances were. He knew that he had to make a choice. Either say no to Potiphar's wife, or say no to God, and to his dreams.

You have to make some choices too, and decide who you are going to say no to. Will it be to the temptations in life, or are you are you going to say no to God, and to your dreams? When your friends come to you trying to get you to do something that you know is wrong, who are you going to say no to?

Young ladies, when your “boo” comes to you, talking about, “If you love me you will go to bed with me.” Who are you going to say no to? Young brothers, when your dogs come to you with that joint or that blunt, who are you going to say no to? When they come with that “Player’s Pack” telling you how much money you can make selling dope and poisoning your own people, who are you going to say no to?

There are more than 2 million people who are in prison in the United States today. What happened to their dreams? Our streets are full of women and men who are addicted to crack and are selling their bodies for a ten dollar rock. What happened to their dreams?

So I want to ask you again, do you have a dream? What is your destination in life? Where do you want to be 10 or 20 years from now? Do you have a dream?

When the Dream Busters come at you, trying to make you lose your focus, what are you going to do? When things get so hard that you just can't see how you can make it, what are you going to do? Are you going to just give up and give in, or are you going to stand your ground and echo the words of the Apostle Paul? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

You guessed it. It’s story time. Two fowlers went to a mountain to spread their nets so they could capture as many doves as possible. After they had set their traps, they left. When they returned, their nets were filled with doves. Desperately the birds flew back and forth trying to escape through the holes is the finely woven net.

At first the hunters were ecstatic over the large number of birds they had caught, but after examining them more closely, they were not very happy with their catch. You see, the birds were very small, and the fowlers were afraid that there would be no market for such skinny birds.

After thinking about it for a while, the men came up with a plan. They decided to buy some mash to feed the birds with, thinking that in a few weeks they would be nice and plump. Everyday the two men brought food and water, which the birds quickly devoured. Slowly, they began to grow in size, but there was one dove that refused to eat.

The other birds had gotten so comfortable in their situation, that they ate everything that the fowlers had brought them. They figured that since they were never going to get out of that net anyway, they might as well make the best of it. So they just laid around, eating and drinking, and getting bigger, and bigger.

However, that one obstinate bird was determined to make it. He refused to get comfortable. He refused to eat their food and he refused to quit struggling.

Then on the day the hunters came back to take all of the birds to market, the dove who refused to eat had become so skinny, that with one last mighty struggle, he was able to squeeze through the net and fly away. He was the only one that made it.

Are you going to be the one who makes it? Are you determined that you are going to do whatever it takes to achieve your dreams? Have you made up in your mind that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you?

Oh yeah, Joseph achieved his dream. No matter how difficult his situation had gotten, he never gave up, and he always trusted in God. So no matter how rough the road may become, never lose sight of your dreams.

Always give it your very best, because one day you are going to stand before the Almighty God of the universe and He is going to ask you, "What did you do with the dreams I gave you?" What will your answer be? Are you going to say, "Lord, they wouldn't let me---? They wouldn't let me do anything. They wouldn't let me be anybody." Or will you be able to say, "Lord, I took advantage of every opportunity that you placed before me, and I did my very best to achieve every dream that you gave me."

So no matter what it is that you are called upon to do, do it with a spirit of excellence. My father used to say, “If a task is once begun, never leave it until it is done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all.”

So if you're called upon to build buildings, build the best buildings that have ever been built. If you are called upon to design clothing, design cloths so well that even kings and queens will be wearing your labels.

In the words of one the greatest dreamers of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "If you are called upon to sweep streets, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote plays. Sweep streets so well, that all of the hosts of Heaven and of earth will pause and say, ‘There goes a great street sweeper, who swept his job well’.”

Dream on.

"The Corner"

Chapter 5 of "He's Only A Prayer Away"

by Rev. Burton Barr Jr. & KOBALT BOOKS

There once was a dance called “The Funky Four Corners.” I bring up this dance because there are four street corners that I want to talk to you about. They are all located in Chicago.

The first corner I want to discuss is at 13th and Christiana. That was the corner closest to my childhood home. I have a lot of memories about that corner. My friends and I hung out on the corner of 13th and Christiana when we were teenagers. That’s where we smoked our cigarettes and used our filthy language. That was where we drank our beer, our whiskey, and our wine. That was where we met up with our girlfriends and did our hugging, kissing, and smooching. These were the things that we knew we couldn’t get away with if we tried to do them on the street where we lived.

My mother and a group of her friends, who also lived on our block, were known as “the heads”. We called them the heads because their heads were always sticking out of their windows, watching everything that was going on in the neighborhood.

When we got ready to do the stuff that we knew we were not supposed to be doing, we got away from our parents. We got away from the neighbors. We got away from “the heads”. We left the view of our houses and hung out on the corner.

The next corner that I want to talk about is 16th and Kedzie. There was a tavern and liquor store on that corner called, “The Bucket of Blood.” I don’t know how it got that name but it could be because of all of the fights that went on and all of the blood that was shed in there.

There were always a lot of people standing around on the corner outside of the tavern. Rain or shine, day or night, summer or winter, hot or cold, it didn’t matter. They would be there. The alcoholics would be there. The drug addicts would be there. The gang bangers would be there. The pimps and the prostitutes would be there. The players and the hustlers would be there. They would all be there, standing on the corner.

The next corner that I want to tell you about is 15th and Drake. On the southwest corner, there was a court way building. Court way buildings are very large building with lots of apartments. Sometimes they have entranceways that resemble yards or courtyards.

This particular building was like a mall…a drug mall. Any drug you wanted could be purchased there. In one apartment, they sold heroin. In another apartment, they sold cocaine, and in yet another, crack was sold. If you wanted a bag of marijuana you went to this apartment. If you just wanted a joint or two, you went to that one.

They even had an apartment where they sold bootleg liquor after hours. To the players and the hustlers, that building was one-stop shopping. On Sunday mornings, from 6:00 AM until noon, they had a sale. If you bought one bag of drugs, you got a second one for half price.

The last corner that I want to talk about is at 26th and California. Anyone who is familiar with Chicago knows this is where the Cook County Jail is located.

You might be wondering why I am talking about those particular street corners. Well, those are some of the corners that Jesus was talking about when He said, “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” Matt. 22:9 NIV)

There is something else those street corners had in common. All of them were completely surrounded by churches. However, I don’t remember anyone from any of those churches going to any of those corners telling any of us anything about God, or about His love, or about His saving power. There were some people that went to the Cook County Jail, but most of them were unknown ministries.

One day, Jesus was speaking to some of the chief priests and the Pharisees after his authority had been questioned. In other words, he was talking to the preachers, deacons, and Sunday school teachers of that time. They were already jealous when they saw Jesus ride into town on a donkey, and how some of the people were laying palm branches in his path while Kirk Franklin and some of the young people were dancing around and singing, “Hosanna - Forever.”

The preachers, deacons, and Sunday school teachers got mad at Him when He went into the sanctuary and started throwing around pews because they were using the church for everything except what it was supposed to be used for. It had gotten so bad that people who were blind, crippled, or crazy couldn’t get any help because the church folks were too busy selling chicken dinners and raffle tickets, or playing bingo.

When Jesus came in and started healing people, they got mad at Him and wanted to see his preacher’s license, but He started talking to them in parables.

He said, “The kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come” (Matt. 22:2-3).

Most of the time, when someone gets married, after the wedding ceremony is over, there is a reception or a banquet. However, everybody that goes to the wedding does not necessarily go to the reception.

There are different reasons why people decide not to attend the reception. Maybe they felt obligated to go to the wedding. After they witnessed the couple taking their vows, and they shook their hands and offered congratulations, they left feeling satisfied because they had met their obligation.

Maybe they didn’t go to the reception because they were uncomfortable about being there. They didn’t want to be part of all the singing, the dancing, and the noise that would be going on. So they said, “It don’t take all of that.”

Maybe they didn’t go because they didn’t have the right kind of gift. They knew that everyone else would have a gift for the happy couple and they didn’t want to feel out of place because they didn’t have one.

Whatever the reason, they missed out on all of the festivities. They missed out on the food that had been prepared for them. They missed the celebration. They missed all of the fellowship and fun. In other words, they missed an important part of the wedding.

It is the same with some of the Christians of today. They are satisfied with just joining church. They repented of their sins and now they are saved, but that is all. They don’t go to Sunday school, Sunday Morning Bible Study, or mid week Bible study. They never attend any training classes. They never join the choir. They never get involved in anything that the church is doing.

Therefore, they never grow in the Lord and, consequently, they cannot share their faith or their testimony with anyone. In other words, they attended the wedding, but they didn’t go to the banquet.

I know they didn’t go to the banquet, because Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

They are not witnesses to anybody, not even to the people that are in their own homes. I don’t know why they don’t want to grow in the Lord and be His witnesses. Maybe they are like the people that went to the wedding, but didn’t go to the banquet. Maybe they just felt obligated to join the church. After they shook the preacher’s hand, they were satisfied and felt they had met their obligation.

Maybe they see people singing, and shouting, and making “all that noise”, and they say, “It don’t take all that.”

Perhaps, they think that in order to be a witness for the Lord, they have to have a certain gift. They have to be a preacher, a teacher, or an evangelist. Whatever their reasons are, they don’t realize what they are missing, because the banquet is ready, the table is spread, and the feast of the Lord is going on. You have to get into the Word of God. Go to Bible study. Get involved in whatever training the church has so you can be witnesses for the Lord. You have to feast on the Word of God.

The Bible says that the king sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. In other words, they were too busy doing other stuff to go to the banquet. Maybe they were watching the ball game or their favorite program. Maybe they just didn’t feel like going. Many of us can relate to these feelings.

He told his servants to tell those who had been invited, that the dinner had been prepared. The oxen and fatted cattle had been butchered, and everything was ready.

He said, “Come to the wedding banquet”, the Book says, “But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field, another to his business”, ( Matt. 22:5).

Some of our churches invest a lot of time and money in an attempt to educate and train their people. They are trying to teach them how to be good soldiers and good stewards for the Lord. They bring in preachers, teachers, and evangelists that are certified to teach every course imaginable. In other words, the oxen and the fatted calf have been butchered, and everything is ready.

They’re saying, “Come on over here where the table is spread and the feast of the Lord is going on.” God is looking for a church that knows that He is only a prayer away and is not afraid to go to a lost and dying world and tell them that the wages of sin is death and payday is coming. We have to let them know the gift of God is eternal life. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will be His witnesses.

We will be His witnesses to the people that are on the corner. We will be His witnesses to the people that are in the taverns. We will be His witnesses to the people that are in the drug house. We will be His witnesses to the people that are in the jailhouse. We will be His witnesses to the players. We will be His witnesses to those who are lost and hurting.

There are too many church folks who don’t care about the people that are on the corner. They don’t care about the people that are in the taverns. They don’t care about the people that are in the dope dens. They don’t care about the players, or the people that are in prison.

They keep telling me that I’m just wasting my time preaching to a bunch of convicts with their jailhouse religion.

However, I hear the God of the universe saying, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, in the jail house, and in the dope house.”

Just because you don’t want to go to the banquet, don’t try to stop me from going.

The king said to his servants, “That’s all right. They don’t have to come to my banquet. Y’all go out there to the street corners and tell everybody that you see to come to the banquet.” The Bible says the servants went to the street corners and told all of the good people to come to the banquet, but that’s not all. They told the bad people to come to the banquet too (Matt 22: 10).

They told the gamblers to come to the banquet. They told the liars to come to the banquet. They told the thieves, the murders, the players and the hustlers to come to the banquet. They told the pimps, the prostitutes, the dope fiends, and the convicts to come to the banquet.

God is doing a new thing. He will rise up a nation of people who will obey Him. If the church folks don’t want to reach out to those who are lost, they don’t have to. God will save the people who are standing on the corner and He will use them to do His work.

He will go to 13th & Christiana, get those nappy-headed boys that are up to no good, and use them. He will go to 16th & Kedzie, get the players and the hustlers from in front of the Bucket of Blood, and use them. He will go to 15th & Drake, get the dope fiends that are coming out of the court way building, and use them. He will go to 26th & California, get the men and women that are in the Cook County jail, and use them. He will go to the worst corners, in the worst cities, and tell everybody to come on, let’s go to the banquet.

Jesus is saying, “Come on over here where the table is spread and the feast of the Lord is going on. Whatever you need, it’s at the table. If you need love, it’s at the table. If you need peace, it’s at the table. If you need joy, it’s at the table. If you need grace, it’s at the table. If you need mercy, it’s at the table. If you need salvation, it’s at the table."

Whatever you need is at the table. Come over here where the table is spread and the feast of the Lord is going on.

Introduction to “The Hoodlum Preacher”

by Rev. Burton Barr Jr. & KOBALT BOOKS

It was a cool, crisp Chicago evening in September of 1985. I was feeling kind of good about myself because I had just pulled off, what I thought was, one of the sweetest con games I had played in a long time. It would keep me out of jail and put some money in my pocket at the same time. That was what I did for a living. I played games on people that separated them from their money or their merchandise. But I wasn’t a big time con man like the guys in the movie “The Sting” or the men Iceberg Slim talked about in his book, “Trick Baby.” I wasn’t trying to be either. At that stage of my life, I was just trying to get enough money to feed my $200.00 a day drug habit. When I say $200.00, that’s just an average. There were many days that I spent well over $500.00, and there were some days that I couldn’t even raise a hundred.

I was sitting in my living room that evening watching Smokey Robinson’s new TV program with my brother, Ralph. We called him “Weasel,” because he was short and fast. We all had nicknames in my neighborhood. Mine was “Bub”, short for Bubba. My childhood friend, Richie, gave it to me. His favorite baseball player was Bubba Philips, the former third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. Richie’s family was one of the last white families to move out of the neighborhood.

Ralph and I have always been close. We’ve had our differences over the years, but what brothers don’t? We used to love to get together and watch sports on TV or listen to some jazz while we were getting high. Ralph didn’t shoot up like I did. As a matter of fact, he hated for me to do it. But that was my thing, “Speed balling.” Speed balling is mixing heroin and cocaine together and either shooting or snorting it.

Ralph’s thing was smoking crack. They called it freebasing back then because they would take some cocaine, mix it with baking soda and water, and then cook it in a test tube. Most people had never heard of freebasing until Richard Pryor almost burned himself up while he was doing it. After that, everybody wanted to try it. But that just goes to show you the mentality of the average drug user. If someone died of an overdose because they had some drugs that were too strong, everybody wanted some of that, because they knew it had to be some good stuff.

To me, freebasing was just wasting good cocaine. So whenever Ralph and I got together, we would just drink whisky and beer, and smoke reefer. That’s what we were doing when the doorbell rang. Ralph started towards the door, but I thought it might have been Shelia, my lady friend at the time, so I decided to answer it myself. The building we lived in was the two family flat where we had grown up. My father lived on the first floor, and Ralph and I lived upstairs.

When I got to the door, I pulled back the shade and saw two policemen standing on the porch. One of them was in uniform; the other one was a detective. I figured they were there to arrest me, but I wasn’t worried. I was sure I could talk them out of it; I had done it many times before. When I turned the lock and pushed the door open, I put on my best smile.

I didn’t even get the door completely open before one of my hands was cuffed and I was being pulled out onto the front porch. They finished handcuffing me and informed me that they had a warrant for my arrest. As I was being taken away, I noticed they had come in different cars. The uniformed officer was a Chicago city policeman. The detective was from one of the suburbs and had to be accompanied by a city officer in order to serve a warrant inside of the city limits. I was put in the car and taken to Oak Park, Illinois.

While I was being booked, I found out that the sweet con game I had played earlier that day had backfired. I didn’t know that the manager of the store where I had passed some bad checks at earlier in the week had found out how I operated. So while I was planning phase two of my con, he was at the police station filing charges against me. I also found out that I had another warrant from another suburb, so my bond was $11,000. I needed $1,100 to get out of jail. I didn’t have it.

When I got to my cell, I thought I was in “Jail Heaven.” I had never been in a hold-over cell like that in my life, and I had been in a lot of them. Most of them were crowded, noisy, open cells with cold steel benches. Most of the time the benches were so crowded, prisoners had to sleep on the floor. And you had to wait forever for someone to let you out to use the phone.

This was more like a single room. It was nice and warm, and there was a bed in there with a mattress, a pillow, and a blanket. There was a telephone in there too. When I looked around, I realized I had been hanging out in the wrong jails. I decided right then, that from that point on, I was going to commit all of my crimes in the suburbs, preferably Oak Park. Prisoners had it going on out there.

I talked on the phone most of the night. But I wasn’t calling people, trying to get bond money; I was calling to tell them about that fancy jail cell I was in. One of the people I called was Sandi, an ex girlfriend of mine who lived in St. Louis. Although we were no longer together, we still remained friends, kind of. You’ve got to remember, I still had the mind of a hustler and a con. Sandi was a beautiful, loving woman. But she came into my life at the wrong time. I had been hurt by so many women, my heart had become calloused. I had decided that I was going to be the one doing the hurting. Unfortunately, Sandi was one of my victims. She really didn’t deserve that.

We tend to do that to each other sometimes. We are so focused on our own hurt feelings that we don’t see the pain that we are causing someone else. It’s kind of like an automobile accident. Even if the accident is our fault, the first thing we do is look at the damage that was done to our car. We are not that concerned about the other person’s car. It is the same when we sin against God. The first thing we do is look at how it has damaged our lives. We are not really concerned with how we hurt the God who loves us.

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t believe the breakfast they gave me. It was an Egg McMuffin with a hash brown and orange juice from the McDonald’s next door. All we ever got for breakfast in the city jails was a stale, dried-up Honey Bun.

I went to court later that morning and was bound over for trial. Since I was not able to make bond, I was sent to the Cook County Jail. That is where people are held until they either bond out or go to court. If you are convicted in court and sentenced to do time, you might do it there if your sentence is one year or less. Anything over a year, including one day, you go to the penitentiary.

The county jail is located on the corner of 26th and California Street. Ironically, it is only two blocks from my old high school, Carter H. Harrison, which was located on 24th and California Street.

After a brief stay in Division 5, I was moved to Division 2. That was the minimum-security section of the jail. It is a two-story building with two open dorms on each floor. There were about 40 or 50 inmates in each dorm. The older, more mature prisoners were housed on the first floor. The second floor was known as “Gladiator School.” It was reserved for the “Thunder Cats.” Those were the young gang bangers who spent most of their time fighting. We could hear them throwing beds, tables, chairs, benches, and everything else that wasn’t nailed down. Sometimes it sounded like they were coming through the floor. If anyone on the first floor got out of hand or gave one of the C.O.s (Correctional Officers) any trouble, they were transferred upstairs to Gladiator School.

I learned something while I was in Cook County. The C.O.s didn’t really run the jail. The gangs did. The C.O.s controlled the overall system as far as telling the inmates what to do and when to do it, therefore, maintaining some sense of order. But when it came to the individual dorms or wings or cellblocks, they were definitely run by the gangs. I learned that the minute I stepped into “D” dorm.

There were three of us that were taken to “D” dorm. The first person I saw when we walked in was Cochise. He was tall, thin, and crazy looking. He was not wearing a shirt and his pants were hanging well below his waist with his boxers showing, although “sagging” was not yet in style back then. He had another inmate pinned against the wall and was all up in his face. Then he threw him across the room onto the floor and shouted, “If you ever do that again, I’ll tear your head off.” Then he looked over at us and said, “What ya’ll looking at?” We just turned and went our separate ways, looking for the bunks we were assigned.

I later found out that Cochise was the “shot caller” for “Folks” in “D” dorm. “Folks” is a group of Chicago area gangs that are united. The inmate that Cochise was beating up was a member of “Peoples,” another group of gangs, and the arch enemies of “Folks.” In “D” dorm, “Folks” out numbered “Peoples” 10 to 1.

During that time, in the Chicago jail and prison system, there were three categories of inmates, Peoples, Folks, and Neutrons. Neutron is another word for neutral, meaning they were not in either gang. Neutrons were the minority. Ain’t that something? Being black, I had been a minority all of my life. Now, there I was in the Cook County Jail where almost everyone was black, and I was still a minority. That wasn’t the first time I had been locked down, so I was able to adjust.

The brother in the bunk next to mine slept all of the time. He would get up when it was time to go to the mess hall to eat, but when he got back to the dorm, he just went right back to sleep. I knew how it was; street life can take its toll on you. Sometimes the police are really doing some people a favor when they lock them up. That’s the only time they get any rest. So in a sense, they didn’t arrest us, they rescued us.

Prison is a culture of hardness. You can never show any sign of weakness or fear. If you do, the predators will sense it, and they will be on you like a pack of dogs.  If you are challenged in any way, you must meet it head on. Smart inmates try to avoid certain situations and certain people. Their goal is to do their time and stay away from trouble. But if trouble comes to them, they deal with it.

On my second day in “D” dorm, I was lying across my bunk. Since it was an open dorm, I made it a habit to always lie on my back. I didn’t want anyone looking at my booty and getting any crazy ideas. We had just returned from lunch and I didn’t want to watch TV. As I stated earlier, the gangs controlled the jail, and that included the TV set. They liked to watch the soaps after “Oprah” and the other morning programs went off.

I was just lying there with my blanket over my face trying to keep the light out of my eyes. I didn’t want to see anyone and I didn’t want anyone to see me. I was angry and feeling sorry for myself. My birthday was coming up soon and it was beginning to look like I would be spending another one of them in jail. I was really getting tired of that.

I heard Cochise’s voice. He was talking to one of his soldiers. I heard their footsteps and their voices coming closer and closer. I started praying, “Please Lord, let them keep going.” But they stopped right by my bunk. I had spent two days trying to avoid this crazy man, and now he was standing over me, with Larry, his right hand man. All of a sudden it got real hot under that blanket. I was sweating and praying and making all kinds of deals with God.

While they were standing there, I heard Larry say, “Who is that?” Cochise said, “That’s just some old preacher that’s running from God.” Then I heard them walking away. That messed me up. I had been a preacher, but I had quit years ago.  I didn’t know how Cochise knew. God had called me to preach, but I didn’t want to do it anymore. So Cochise was right when he said I was running from God. I was a fugitive, but I wasn’t the only one. Our jails and prisons are full of fugitives. Some of them are fugitives, running from justice. Some of them are fugitives running from God.

My friend, Richie, had a little brother named Michael. When we were younger, Michael used to aggravate some of us older boys and then run into his house before we could catch him. Once, Michael did something that made me angry, but that day I caught him before he was able to get home, and I beat the mess out of him.

Afterwards, it dawned on me that I had one little brother, but Michael had four big brothers, so I ran home. That evening, while we were eating dinner, the doorbell rang. Thinking it was Michael’s brothers, I jumped up and ran out the back door. My father caught up with me and asked what was going on. After I told him what had happened, he said, “Son, when you are in trouble, you are supposed to run to your house, not away from your house.”

That is how Satan tricks us. When we mess up or get into trouble, we leave the church because of embarrassment or we don’t know if we will be forgiven. But that is the time that we should run to God and to the church, instead of running from them.

Later that night, we were all sitting around watching TV when Cochise called me off to the side. He said, “What are you doing in here Preacher? You don’t belong here.” I started telling him about my crimes and some of the things I had done, trying to impress him and show him how bad I was, but he just started laughing. He said, “You know you ain’t suppose to be doing that stuff.”

I went back to my seat and started watching TV again. Just then, one of the C.O.s came in and handed Cochise bags of food. Some of the C.O.s were gang members that had never been arrested. All of the gang members started making sandwiches and eating. It had been a long time since dinner, and I was hungry too. But I wasn’t part of the gang. Cochise looked up from his sandwich and said, “Hey Preacher, are you hungry?” When I said that I was, he told someone to give me a sandwich. But what they gave me was a jailhouse donut and some bread. I’d had one of those donuts in the mess hall before; they were terrible. They were not sweet at all.

I was looking at the donut and bread wondering, “What am I supposed to do with this?” when Cochise asked me if I had ever had a donut sandwich before. I replied, “No.” He told someone to show me how to make one. I thought they were playing a joke on me. Someone told me to put some butter and jelly on the bread, put the donut in between. I tried it. It was great.

We were given donuts at least twice a week with our breakfast. From then on I always made sandwiches with them. Whenever we had something for lunch or dinner that I didn’t like, I would trade it with another inmate for their donut sandwich. My niece, Christine, teases me because to this day, I still eat them. Donut sandwiches.

After everyone had eaten that night, Cochise called me in front of everybody. He said, “Hey ya’ll. This is ‘Preacher’. He ain’t Folks. He’s a Neutron, but he’s alright. I don’t want nobody messing with him.” So that became my name while I was in the Cook County Jail. Preacher. Cochise and I got to be pretty good friends. I asked him how he knew I had been a preacher? He said, “Anybody can look at you and tell you’re a preacher.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but even in jail, God had His hand on me and was protecting me.

A few weeks later, detectives came to the jail and arrested me. Again. It was the dumbest thing I had ever heard of. How can you arrest someone who is already in jail? It turned out that while I was in jail, stores in two other suburbs had pressed charges against me, so they added another $50,000 to my ransom, and moved me to Division 4, the more secure section of the jail. Things had gone from bad to worse. I figured God was angry with me, but I didn’t think He was this angry.

Why was He so angry with me? After all, nobody’s perfect. At least that’s what I had always heard. The truth is, we do not live in a perfect world, and God did not create a perfect people. When God created man, He gave us the ability to choose how we live our lives. He gave us a tongue that can lie, a heart that can hate, hands that can kill, and thoughts that can lust. We were not born with a mouth that will not say things that hurt, or feet that will not follow the path of unrighteousness. We are however, blessed with a mind that can discern right from wrong.

The name Preacher followed me to Division 4. But something happened while I was in there that changed my life forever. Before I tell you about that, I want to go back a few years and tell you the story of how I became, “The Hoodlum Preacher.”

BOOKS BY  BURTON BARR JR.

He’s Only A Prayer Away: 9 Examples of Praying Until Your Breakthrough

The Hoodlum Preacher: I Was Lost, Now I Am Found

Amazing Grace: The Storm Is Passing Over

For more info

www.kobaltbooks.com

www.thehoodlumpreacher.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rev. Burton Barr, Jr., Associate Minister

West Side Missionary Baptist Church

Rev. Burton Barr, Jr. has served as one of the associate ministers of the West Side Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Ronald L. Bobo, Sr. since 1994. He is a member of the senior staff and serves as Director of the Prison, Substance Abuse, and Outreach Ministries.

He also serves as Director of Prison Ministry for the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri, and the Berean Missionary Baptist District. He is Commissioner of Prison Ministry for the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc., and Chairman of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition’s Law and Order Committee. He is a member of the Coalition of Prison Evangelist (C.O.P.E.), the Eastern Missouri Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty, and the Missionary Baptist Ministers Union of St. Louis & Vicinity.

Rev. Barr is the author of the best-selling autobiography, “The Hoodlum Preacher.” He preaches and teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ in jails and prisons all over the state of Missouri and in many parts of the country. He also preaches and lectures at churches, youth rallies, and youth revivals in an effort to keep our young people from ending up in the prison system. He has been certified by the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri’s “Congress of Christian Education” to teach prison ministry classes.

He is a native of Chicago, IL. and is currently a student at St. Louis Christian College majoring in Christian Ministry. He is the husband of Charlotte Anne Barr, and is a proud father and grandfather.

GOD STILL LOVES YOU

Copyright © 2011 by Burton Barr Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is truly coincidental.

Cover Design by Rob Viper

Book Edited by Cedric Mixon

The Holy Bible, NIV ©1984, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

For information:

Kobalt Books, P.O. Box 1062, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Printed in the U.S.A

www.kobaltbooks.com

Published by Kobalt Books L.L.C.

An original publication of Kobalt Books L.L.C.