What's beef?

Mos def and Talib Kweli have a song called 'what's beef'. (No, they are not Christian but they have very thoughtful and intelligent lyrics) Anyway, in this song they talk about what they consider beef... not the meat but meaning having a problem or conflict with someone or something. They go on to highlight different conflicts that someone might have with people, ideas and/or concepts.

This song started to make me think about internal and external beef. I will write another entry on internal beef but with this entry I would like to talk about external beef. Conflict, drama, problems or however you want to put it.

Let me start with giving you my stance on external beef. Bottom line is we should not have any. There should not be any beef between you or anyone else. There is no viable excuse to have any, especially if we are trying to be Christ like. I often joke around with some of my people from church and tell them that "I HAVE to love them cause the Bible tells me to". They know I am just joking. Unfortunately some people actually live this out. I've also heard people say "I have to love you but that does not mean I have to like you". That makes me scratch my head all the time. Now I am not saying that we all have to be best friends, have sleep overs where you share your inner most secrets or that we have to share and spend our time with people who do not fit the description of what a best friend is to you.
What I am saying is we should not harbor any ill feelings for anyone or feel like we have enemies . I would take it a step further and say that we should not be indifferent or non-caring about people, especially those that share the same beliefs as we have. Jesus was asked a question by the religious rulers of his time concerning the greatest commandment. I am sure that many reading this (all 2 of you) know it or at least heard it. "Love the Lord you God with all your heart with all your mind with all your strength..." but it does not end there. The second part of the greatest commandment is simple in terms of understanding it, "...and Love your neighbor as yourself" but it's one of the hardest to live out.

Talking about this reminds me of the good Samaritan story. Despite his personal feelings for the poor Jewish individual who was robbed and beating this Samaritan man showed more love and compassion than any of the other religious leaders or officials that saw the man lying in the road. The Samaritan not only bandaged him but took him to an Inn and paid for his care and stay. If that was not enough he also promise to pay anything extra should this stranger needed it. The remarkable aspect to the story is not only his kindness and compassion but it was extending these acts to that stranger especially because the stranger was a Jew. Samaritans and Jews where the worst of enemies. Jews regarded Samaritans with the type of affection that only the most lowly and undeserving person can expect. In turn the Samaritans where not very fond of the Jews to say the least. I hope you see where I am going with this. If this is the type of love that Jesus said we should have even when the love is given to someone that we feel is not deserving of it, then how much more should we love a brother or sister in Christ?

If God felt so much love for us who fell short of his glory... All of us who live in darkness, all of us who fulfilled the desires of our flesh, all of us who turned our backs on the light. He loves us so much despite all of that then why can we love our brethren? Why can't we share the gift given to us, why can't we be a loving neighbor?

The only beef should be medium-well with mash potatoes, corn and a cold drink to wash it down.

The thing about grace.

I know I have not written in a bit, but here I am delivering my thoughts and feelings as they come.

Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit about Grace. Grace is a funny thing. Not funny in like hahaha but funny in an interesting way. I do believe that it is definitely something that can be difficult to grasp and even more difficult to accept or and even still harder to give. What is grace? In short grace is a gift that is not deserved but is offered nonetheless.

If you are a believer then you understand that it is by grace that we are saved. It was God and the love he had for us manifested in the flesh through his son and his subsequent sacrifice for us that we see grace at work... We did not deserve this gift. We are not worthy of this and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Regards it was offered to us as a gift with no attachments, gift receits or as an exchange for something else The bible clearly says that Jesus came to abolish the law andhis ministry is one of grace.

I think that were most of us get stuck is how do we excersice this grace in our lives and extend this to others. How and/or when do we let go of what we feel is right to show some grace. Where do we draw the line between what it is written as law and when grace kicks in. When do we stop putting rituals and custom above people?

I know that this is not and easy subject. I know that is not as easy as saying this is the way it has to be because it's written and it's been like this for years. The way I have been able to approach this is by putting myself in that situation. By asking myself 'if I was in the situation would grace help me grow spiritualy? Will someone, or the church for that matter, extending their grace towards my needs or shortcomings, is that more important and/or valuable than sticking strictly to the law?

Stay tune...i'll post more on this.

My legal obligation

It is about 9am and I am on my way to fulfill my civic duty as a participant in jury duty. In this case is not the common jury duty where lawyers pick 12 people out of 50. I was selected to be part of Grand Jury. Our responsibility is to asses cases and see if their have any merit to continue to trail.

I hope that this wil be a positive experince and not a boring one, especially since it's for 4 days a week for 4 weeks.

I will upadate later on.

Until next time....
Anthony Perez

Vacation time

So, we are on vacation and let me tell you it was really needed. God is good and we are already reaping the benefits of the blessings. We took Emily to the Crayola factory and she had a good time. She was able to do a lot of arts and crafts. The hightlight for me was finding a small ice cream shop tucked away a block from The Crayola Factory. The ice cream was very delicious. It's interesting that for a little shop that is literary on a small side street, it was full of people. I guess the locals really kow that the ice cream is worth having. Reminds me of a great secret that is longing to be reveal and if we know about it we want to share it, kinda like Jesus and the gift he offers us for free.

We tend to use hotwire to book our hotel whenever we go out. Thus far we've had real good experiences... Until now. We were able to book a 4 1/2 star hotel that turn out to be a Hyatt and all I can say is OMG! Is is the best looking hotel I have ever been in. In door pool, gym, a coy pond and a balcony over looking the atrium. All for $79.

Last but not least we got hungry and Shay decide to search for some place to eat. To add to the bucket of blessings, the
Lord supplied us with a bucket of crab. The pictures on the top are the before and the after... Lol.

All in all our first day of vacation was great.

Anthony Perez

2nd day of vacation

I am standing in front of the caursel in Sesame Place. It's a great place for kids to come. It is not too far away from the city and it has both water rides as well as regular rides. Just make sure that you get there as early as possible or go during the weekday cause the lines for parking are horrendous. I kinda had to keep my patience in check.

We met up with some friends and I am sure that Emily will have a blast. Okay I have to admit that I most likely will have a blast as well.

It's about 8 pm and it's been a great day so far... But all good things must come to and end, but not without a bang. We just found out that the have Labor Day Weekend fireworks at the closing of the park. So we will head out with lots of lights and a big bang. Lol.

Till tomorrow....

Anthony Perez

Vacation time

So, we are on vacation and let me tell you it was really needed. God is good and we are already reaping the benefits of the blessings. We took Emily to the Crayola factory and she had a good time. She was able to do a lot of arts and crafts. The hightlight for me was finding a small ice cream shop tucked away a block from The Crayola Factory. The ice cream was very delicious. It's interesting that for a little shop that is literary on a small side street, it was full of people. I guess the locals really kow that the ice cream is worth having. Reminds me of a great secret that is longing to be reveal and if we know about it we want to share it, kinda like Jesus and the gift he offers us for free.

We tend to use hotwire to book our hotel whenever we go out. Thus far we've had real good experiences... Until now. We were able to book a 4 1/2 star hotel that turn out to be a Hyatt and all I can say is OMG! Is is the best looking hotel I have ever been in. In door pool, gym, a coy pond and a balcony over looking the atrium. All for $79.

Last but not least we got hungry and Shay decide to search for some place to eat. To add to the bucket of blessings, the
Lord supplied us with a bucket of crab. The pictures on the top are the before and the after... Lol.

All in all our first day of vacation was great.

Anthony Perez

Walk in a straight line

I tend to do some walking as a form of excercise after work. Usually I take a nice long walk from 34th St. and Broadway to 107 St. and Lexington. Yes it's a nice long walk but I enjoy it.

If you are thinking that I will tie this in to something in my life then you are right! I call them 'observations' some might say that I have a very critical eye... I just say that I tend to notice the details. So one of the things that I have constantly seen in my many long walks is how people seem uncapable of walking in a straight line. Numerous times I've had to stop dead on my tracks when someone drifts into my walking lane.

I understand that people are in a rush and there are throngs of people walking the streets everyday. I am talkng about the person who having no one else around him/her drifts to one side or the other, and not just one or two times it seems like that is the way they walk.

I started to think about that in terms of our walk with God. I wonder how many of us walk our lives with Him aimlessly or zig-zagging our way through life and sometimes blocking the people behind us. I wonder how many of us walk with purpose and in a straight path. The bible says that if we keep his word and precepts in our mind and heart that He will make our path straight. Which makes sense if we believe that his word is our guide... Then knowing His word will help us to walk with purpose and in a straight line. I know I struggle with setting apart some time to read and meditate on His word. I hope and pray to get better at this. Hopefully this is your prayer as well, if you also struggle with this.

Until next time... Be blessed.

- Anthony Perez

Sit and wait....

I just recently saw a news headline that said ''2.2 million homes up for grabs''.
All I can think to myself is with so many homes up for grab why can one of them be mine?

Let me explain... My wife and I are praying for God to guide us in our living situation. Emily, our daughter was accepted to a school on the upper west side. We are currently living in the Bronx. If you know New York and traffic the you know that the worst thing to do is drive into manhattan in the morning. So we have been praying about getting a place around the new school. The problem is, we wanted to buy a home and with the way things are looking we would just have to hold on for a bit to probably get a good deal. The wrench in the plan is that it will probably have to be in the Bronx because who can really afford to live in Manhattan? Further more if we decide to rent now we will not be able to save up for a house any time soon.

Thus we are praying for God's direction. I have to be honest, this is hard. I was telling my wife that I am okay with whatever the Lord wants as long as I know what it is. The problem is that I don't know what it is and it's making me very anxious. I guess this is just another side of trust. Trusting in God for his perfect timing and blessing. I think back at all the times I've struggle to just do what God wants... Not knowing is even harder.

So if you are one of the two people that read this please pray for Gods' guidance and peace in our lives. That we will be able to sit and wait patiently for His hand to lead us to our promise land.

Until next time...
Be blessed.

Anthony Perez

Funny observations

I had been throwing around the idea of making a list of things that can be pet pevees while riding the train.

Below is my list. In subsequent postings I will expand on them.

Don't you find it funny when:
1. someone stops on the top step of the staircase to catch their breath when there are tons of people behind.

2. someone walks real slow through the platform and is clueless to move over and let people pass them.

3. Someone sitting down waits for you to stand in front of them and waits for you to say excuse so that they can move down so you can sit down.

4. Kids and/or grown ups use the top handrail inside the train to do chin ups.

5. Someone leaves an empty bottle and it continually hits you feet while the train is moving.

6. Someone tries to squeeze themselves into a seat that clearly they don't fit in.

7. When people stand by the door and dont move whileyou are trying to get in or out the train.

I am sure that there are more observations that i might be missing. If you have some please comment on them

Until next time... Be bless.
Anthony Perez

Celophane

Towards the end of Chicago the musical there is a song called Celophane where the character sings about feeling invisible or like people just see through him with out even thinking about him just like a piece of celophane.
Celophane is the noisy but colorful see-through plastic that is usually used to wrap gift baskets. Usually when you get one of those you tend to concentrate on looking at what the basket contains and not even giving the celophane a second thought. As a mater of fact it becomes more of a bother with all the noise and trouble unwraping it.
If you heard my last album, the last song is called celophane and that is where I got the idea from. See at one point in time I felt over looked, I felt under appreciated and ignored for the most part. That is where my mind set, at least within hip hop, was a couple years ago.
My mind set or at least my life is in a different path and the metaphor for celophane is different. I see it more a being transparent with every one who is around me. Is not about being overlooked but is more about being see through. So... In the spirit of this theme I would like to be transparent with whoever is reading this blog. I suffer from pride. It has been a source of conflict that i have been dealing with. Not sure where it started, or how it came about. I have to keep reminding myself that I am no better than any one else. I don't think that I act like I am but I need to keep my thoughts in check. It's really hard to be humble and it's harder to admit your mistakes/short comings.
''I keep reminding myself that pride comes before the fall'' and i really dread the fall. Hoestly, sometimes I wonder if God has spared me a uge headache by limiting me in music to whee i don't think any more of myself.... Either that or people around me have lie and I just really suck. Regardless I am thankful to God for loving me and helping to to keep grounded.

What is your source of struggle and how are you allowing God to work within that?

Be blessed.

Becoming a slave

So I was ridding down the elevator at work on my way to lunch and our elevators have a tv screen that shows the news. Needles to say this caught my eye...

My first thought is why would you want to sell yourself off? Why would you want to be a slave to someone else, someone you don't know. As I kept reading I saw that he auctioned his friends. My first reaction was unbelief. Seriously, his friends? Then it hit me... What right did he have to auction his friends? The interesting thing was that he was disappointed with the amount his life, processions, job and the life of his friends are worth, a mere 384,000. Sad thing is that he sold himself short (pun intended).

I guess in a way this shows the value that people place on life. The value that we put on life will never be enough, but God values us as priceless. We are all priceless to God. Paul put it best when he said that he is a slave to God and only God. He knew that only in God would he find his true worth and we are elevated from a mere slave to a child of God.

This has me asking some tough questions.
- What am I a slave to?
- How did I get to that?
- How can I be free?

The Bible says that the truth shall set you free, so be honest with yourself. Know and recognize where or with what you’ve been slave with. Lastly give over to God and find freedom in him.

Be blessed.

FW: Round and round

It's 6:10 and I am on the platform at 34th street waiting for the train to come and I've been thinking about what to write for this week. The phrase or rather yet question that keeps coming to my mind is.... Does you life revolve around God or does God revolve around your life?
You answer to this question can explain many of the things that might be happening in your life.

What do I mean by that.... Simply that your answer to this question will reflect your true relationship with God. The bible says it best in Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added. Some times we get this verse twisted literary. Sometimes we tend to seek the world and the things that the world offers (some are not necessarily bad on their own like jobs, relationships, studies) and then think that God would be added unto that. I think that part of the blame for that is that we have grown so accustome to instant gratification. We have gotten so use to information, music, food and whatever else we desire being so accessible and getting so fast that we forget that little phrase "not my will but yours be done"... In others words is not in my time but in Gods time. We like God to step in and add to our lives in the good times but turn around and blame him in the bad times.
If God revolves around you life then that means the you are so pre-occupied with everything in your life that your basically saying...'God I have all of this to do, but if you find an empty spot the you can go ahead and take it.' But if the opposite is true ans you life revolvs arond God the He is the center of everything that you do. He is the focal point of your life. He is privy to everything that is going on in your life. If you seek him first and make him the center of your life then He will be able to not only be a part of all you life but be able to add on to your life in a great and powerful way.
So think about it.. Who revolves around who?

Be blessed.

I can't get no satisfaction.

I write this as i am standing on the 2 train at 6pm heading home. I just found this great little application that can upload my messages straight to the blog. So my phone will see a lot more action. Lately I have been plague with thoughts of not investing my time wisely. I feel like i have not been as productive with my time especially with the advance in technology. I feel like I could do more to stay in touch and to connect more. I guess this is my step to do so. This leads to the theme of this weeks' message.

How many of us have experience total satisfaction? I guess most if not all of us have been there. Every time you finish a project and it's well done you experience satisfaction. Some sit or stand back and inspect their work and this smile of contentment and satisfaction creeps up. In the immortal words of the rolling stones and Paul I sing... 'I can't get no… satisfaction'



Wait Paul? Yes Paul. If we read in Phil. 3:13-14 he says.. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
If any one could have sat back and contemplate the work He had done and how far he had travel and the goals he had achieved it was Paul. None the less he is clear here when he states that he has not yet finished his work, he has not yet attained what God has for him. Most importantly He has not receive the prize God has for him and while he has not gotten there he has resolved the move forward, to strain ahead and to press on not satisfied until he reaches his goal and attains the prize that God has for him.

In you spiritual life, have you reach the goal God has put forth? Have you attain the prize from God yet? In you ministry work, are you sitting back contemplating the good job you have done? Are you satisfied? Satisfaction comes not just from the completion of something we started. Satisfaction comes from knowing that you gave it your all, that you left a piece of yourself behind, that you achieved what you set out to do and the you attained the final prize with hard work, dedication, commitment and a lot of prayer. I encourage you to continue to press on, to strain forward to attain the goals God has for you and to never be satisfied until God himself tells you to stop.