notes from lisa...

      I hope my friends who support former President Trump won't bypass  this because of the title. I'd really like to share my feelings--all of them, without debate; and in a way so that they can be pondered thoughtfully, if you care to do so.     So, I have three key reasons why and I will explain each of them.  I'm a woman, I'm a minority, I'm a Christian.      The first two won't be as in-depth to explain as the last, but they are still very important.       As a woman, I can't support a candidate who views women as objects. He makes it clear by his statements and behavior that women are either beautiful (then they're fit for his pleasure and can be in his presence), or they're ugly (and he would "never sleep with them", "they are disgusting", "nasty", horseface", "' A crazed, crying lowlife' and 'a  dog'","low I.Q.".  " In a New York magazine profile published in Novembe...

    I know exactly what you're thinking, right now. Who is this crazy (or know-it-all) woman who thinks she has the answer to everything?  That would be me, because I do--but I can't take credit for it, at all . All I did was read it and acknowledge its truth, and the simplicity of it.      Here it is: "Ye shall not oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I AM the L ORD your God." [Leviticus 25:17, KJV]. It really is simple, but what we call "human nature" gets in the way (it's really sin, but you can call it human nature if it makes you feel better). The truth is we make it sound like we are without choice in the matter; but that's not entirely so. Each of us has been gifted with free will --no matter how good or evil, we have it; and we can do with it whatever we choose. So, in reality it's not human nature--we weren't created to do evil; that's not the natural thing for created mankind. It is for fallen mankind; but eve...

Often, when bad things happen--we find ourselves shocked that the person we knew would do something so heinous. The truth is, there is an explanation for it and it lies in the makeup of mankind. Man is a trichotomy . God intended for us to be a trichotomy--we are spirits , that have souls and bodies . We are made up of all three. We can't exist without all three, but failure of one or the other to function according to the original plan can wreak havoc; and not simply on ourselves, but those who come in contact with us. The intent of God was to have a man and a woman "made in His Image and after His Likeness". God is One ! "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD..."[Deuteronomy 6:4, The Shema]. And that is His plan for us--that we would be one, as He Is One. There is a difference in the original nature (that God desired for us) and the sin nature that exists in every man, woman and child after the fall of mankind. Now, we have the opportunity to be one...

Some of us, didn't get to choose whether we were a David or a Uriah--destiny appointed us to be a Uriah. And, naturally-speaking, we remain Uriah until David does the right thing regarding us. " Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.   The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,   but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms   and was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this t...

 I know that you love me and all of the black and  brown people in your life--and so, clearly you are not racist, right? Many of you are not. (However, proximity doesn't have anything to do with whether or not you are racist.) I'm not talking to those who are racist, at the moment--certainly not to those who recognize their racist beliefs or behaviors.  I'm addressing my white friends and others who don't recognize how damaging their choices are (although they are clearly their rights), to people of color.  Your vote for individuals who are hell-bent on turning the clock backwards on our rights is dangerous to our "pursuit to happiness", and our very right to exist. Your failure to dig deeper than Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart and social media for your "facts" is life-threatening for me and a whole segment of society. While you amen Tucker Carlson's diatribes instead of looking for unbiased sources of factual news, we are being impacted by the cha...

Recently, I read an article about Beth Moore. In the interview she was asked what she thought of President Trump and Evangelicals  and their political and social status, currently. Her response was something like, "I expected Trump to be Trump; but I didn't expect us to be us." The backlash that came from many Evangelicals was anything but loving.  These days it's as if we can't have differing views without becoming hateful. I'm not talking about unregenerate sinners, mind you, but "us". Before anything else, we are Christians and we are to be known by the love of God. That's the Image that the world is supposed to see when they look at us, but it's been a vastly different picture for some time--even before President Trump. The Bible says in Romans 12:9, " Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good ." There seems to be a lot of "talk" about love among us, but the hate and vitrio...

I hate to admit this, but as great as all of the efforts are to bring about change and justice for minorities right now, I'm not expecting much. At least, not long term. The reason I'm not as optimistic is because we're aiming at the wrong solutions. Laws can't bring permanent change. They have the "power" to make things better only when people are willing to follow them. The truth though is that this is a society that loves its loopholes. Legislation is not the answer to the woes of racism. History tells us that. We thought freedom from slavery would make us equal. In many ways, our freedom made us less free. Our freedom introduced us to the viciousness and brutality of the Klan and lynching. And, of course, new loopholes that were meant to keep us from achieving. Add to that, the only means of survival for most who remained in the south was just a continued form of slavery--sharecropping. But, the fight continued. Legislation was passed time after tim...