This is for you Rachel

Hey everyone.... sorry I have not posted in a while. My computer crashed and I decided why waste 6 or 700 dollars when what I really want is an IMac. I am just going to wait until I can get one of those. I really want to be able to make movies and store my 8000+ pictures and all that sort of stuff. So I am now reduced to being one of a thousand people who congragate at the library and use the public computers there. It is quite funny when someone beside me comments on what I am doing...Oh well.Life is good and God is good.I will try to post more often now so that I can retain my gold member status on rachel-davis.blogspot.com

From the other side

My eyes have been opened to see things from the other side. Sometimes when you have set your mind on something and you wait, and you wait, when you find it, at first you don't see it because you have gotten caught up in the wait.
I have found what I have been waiting for, for what seems an eternity. I feel like a child learning to walk. I don't want to look back, I want to give myself to it wholeheartedly. No reservations. No fears of what could go wrong. I just know it is right. I know it is what I have longed for my whole life. It is the most beautiful thing I could have ever imagined. It so far exceeds what I had ever hoped for, I keep thinking maybe I am dreaming. Could God be so good to me? Why, what have I done to deserve something so wonderful, beautiful and perfect? I hope and pray that I can give back in excess of what is expected. I am in a place I have never been before. I don't know how to go from here, so I just have to trust that God will walk with me through it.
I also need to appreciate every second, every minute, every hour. Never take my eyes off the fact this is a gift from God. Thank you my Heavenly Father for opening my eyes and for waking me up from my slumber.

Highest Respect Award

In life I have found that you come across many different types of people. The amount of people who fall into these categories gets smaller and smaller depending upon the category. There are those who pass through your life, you remember them with a smile. We meet many of these in our lives. Then there are those who inspire you to do better. There are still plenty of these, but not as many as the first category. Then there are those with whom you form an instant friendship, and they remain your friend your whole life. There are even less of these. Then there are those who are "Kindred Spirits" that you feel you have known forever and they just "Get" you and you "Get" them. There are very few of these. Then there is the category that I will focus on here. People who get your "highest respect" award. I am blessed to be able to put 2 people in this category that I have met in my lifetime. The first has held this position in my life for the past 14 years (Keith Julius Jackson, who was willing to take a bullet for my son), and now I have added a new one to the list. Moses Kobogoza.

Moses, you get my Highest Respect Award. There are some people who for whatever reason, known only to God, have carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. How they have walked that out in their life for both of these people, has earned them my respect in a deeper way than I can even explain.

So I want to take this opportunity to let not only Moses know, but anyone who reads this blog know, this is a man worth knowing. Nuff Respect Moses.

Music...

When I moved to Jamaica and began to learn the culture, language, and the ways of Jamaica, I found the best way to learn was through the music. Jamaica is a culutre that is rich with music. The birthplace of Reggae, it has a concentrated amount of talent that I believe exists in no other country. I began to learn the language throught the music. I learned alot of the nuances of the culture through the music as well. To this day aside from IHOP there are no songs that can move me like some of the ones from my favorite Jamaican artists. Buju Banton. A wordsmith like no other. My favorite song that Buju does is called Untold Stories. Listen to it and you cannot deny the God given talent... it is a timeless story...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXiSEM4UJS0

Guitar Maker

I have a friend in the Lord who I have known for many years. He has been a worship leader for over 20 years. God has blessed him with an incredible talent. He makes guitars. He has made acoustic guitars, as well as a bass guitar for his son, and a fretless bass for another bass player at our church, What is so amazing to me is the sound that they make. It is such a pure sound. If you are a guitar player (or bass player) I would highly recommend checking out one of his guitars. Here are some pictures of the first guitar he made for himself.
His name is Luke Anderson and if you are interested in him making a custom guitar, or bass for you, please email me and I will have him contact you. My email address is: JAHdawtah1@gmail.com

Are we ready for this?

I was reading an interesting article in the newspaper on Sunday. It was about a woman from another country, who is now living in Minnesota, who was taking another woman to court to prove that this other woman used Voodoo to lure her husband away from her.
How do you prove that someone used Voodoo on you?
Is our court system prepared to take on things like this?
These sort of things are commonplace in several other countries. In Jamaica, they have what is called "Family Court". This is a secondary court system that deals with all of the problems that people have with each other. As with everything else in Jamaica, it is a first come first served basis. So on the days that the local family courts are being held you will see people lining up from 5am to be among the first to be helped. There are hundreds of people in line by the time the doors open up. They usually end up being there all day. There is a judge who makes decisions between people who have grievances with each other similar to what takes place in the Old Testament. I think we would be wise to begin something like this for all of the immigrants who have come here and now call the USA home.
What do you think?

Thoughts

I have been intrigued by people from different places all my life. I remember in third grade, we had someone from the Peace Corps come to our classroom and they talked about Ecuador and what life was like there. I remember thinking that is what I wanted to do with my life.
Then the world and all its cares got in the way. I forgot third grade. I remember in high school when we had to choose a career. I thought I wanted to be a marine biologist. But... it would have taken 12 more years of college. That was a lifetime to me. I chose nothing. I remember thinking it would be awesome to be a photographer for National Geographic. But... How do you get a job like that. I just decided to have fun while I took pictures, and then I got a generic job and never went to college. I just lived my life. I did get a couple jobs in different places in the US, but they were never what I really wanted. Then God met me and my life turned around. I ended up going to Mexico on a missions trip, then I went to Jamaica. I ended up living there. I learned the culture, the language and then remembered what happened in the third grade. I was living what I had dreamed of then. It is funny to me how we can just go along and if we keep walking and don't stop, we will be directed where we are supposed to go.
I have studied several different cultures over the years and I would love to just be able to go to those places and meet these people. I think EVERY person in this world has something unique to share. I see each person as someone I could learn something from. I am saddened by how this world tries to make some people believe they are not worth anything. That is such a lie.
I hope that anyone who reads this blog will see that they have worth and I would love to hear some of the things you have learned in this life.
Today I read a Persian proverb: When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
I love this. It is when things in our life are the darkest and hardest that we can begin to see the beautiful things, if we only look up.