David Awaits

GUEST COMMENTARY

In 1999 The Wall Street Journal published the findings of a longitudinal study done to see how family structure affects criminal activity and here is what they discovered:

Boys raised outside of intact marriages are, on average more than twice as likely as other boys to end up jailed. A child born to an unwed mother is about 2 1/2 times as likely to end up imprisoned, while a boy whose parents split during his teenage years was about 1 1/2 times as likely to be imprisoned. - - Children raised by single mothers are five times more likely to live in poverty, compared to children with both parents. Children who do not live with their fathers are 3 times more likely to fail at school or to quit. - - The burgeoning imprisonment rate over the past three decades has compounded the problem as more fathers are incarcerated and more children are left behind. According the Bureau of Justice Statistics, almost 1.5 million minors had a mother or father in prison in the year 2000, an increase of more than 500,000 since 1991. Additionally, children of offenders are 6 times more likely than their peers to end up in prison.

More to think about:

[These are based on NY's population] More than 6 percent of black men in NY cannot vote because they are in prison or on parole. Nationwide, 13% of the black adult male population (1.4 million African-American men) currently or permanently lost the ability to vote because of a felony conviction, according to a 1999 report by the Human Rights Watch and the Sentencing Project. "Given current rates of incarceration, three in 10 in the next generation of black men will be disenfranchised at some point on their lifetime. In states with the most restrictive voting laws, 40% of African-American men are likely to be permanently disenfranchised.

With this said, David awaits...

The "David generation" - the "almost forgotten", "the neglected", "the overlooked", "the dirty and not so appealing", "the last resort", "the low-to-no expectations group," and the generation that has been on the backside of the desert, out of sight and out of mind. Only David does not know that he is the very one that will be crowned king, who will carry the heart of God, and usher in His Lordship over the kingdoms of this world. Yet he awaits Samuel...

Samuel has been given charge to go and anoint Gods chosen King, but Samuel must be led of God and obedient to the Spirit, for man looks on the outward, but God looks at the inward. Therefore Samuel cannot judge on his own who is elect of God by what he can see or what he thinks he knows of an individuals lifestyle, background, appearance, or experience.

The spirit of David destroys room for excuses for not pursing and conquering. He was a pursuer, and needed no one to tell him "if" he could accomplish something. He did not need this for two reason: (1) David was affirmed as being something more than what he could have imagined - this in turn brought about his faith. (2) While in the process of becoming (on the backside) he prepared himself and sharpened the tools that he was given, feeling no lack, thereby breeding courage. Faith and Courage - Faith that God IS because he said he was, and Courage because he knew that he had taken the time to make himself skilled, and competitive - the best. This is important because when the time came for him to ACT, he was able to stand in both his solidarity and GOD’s. David mastered his simple little sling shot with no resentment and towered over those that had been equipped with what appeared to be more.

Born fighters, without a fight. That’s who we have become. But the truth of the matter is that there continues to be a slaughter, and the adversary has all the points on the scoreboard because we won a round, and in the midst of our celebration were knocked off of our feet into a slumber. But because we were already tired anyway, rest is what we needed, right? Yes, however there was a change in operation. We need to teach our youth to work smarter and not harder. This is why we/they are so weary because when we have been fighting, we use the same tactics that the enemy has learned to counter, not to mention the enemy has left the building and is now using something computer-run, because he is fighting smarter.

KwilliamsPhd

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE! WE, AS THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS, HAVE TO DO A BETTER JOB OF REACHING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE THAN OUR FOREFATHERS DID. WE CAN'T USE THE SAME TACTICS AS USED IN THE 1970's OR THE 1980's. WE HAVE TO REALIZE THAT THE BATTLE IS MORE FIERCE TODAY THAN IT WAS YESTERDAY. JUST AS IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG FROM THE DESERT OF IRAQ. WHAT IF OUR TROOPS WERE FIGHTING TODAY WITH THE SAME ARTILLERY FROM VIETNAM? WE WOULD BE IN TROUBLE, RIGHT? IT'S THE SAME FOR TODAY. OUR PARENTS DIDN'T HAVE THE SAME DISTRACTIONS AS WE DO TODAY BUT WE CONTINUE TO USE THE SAME SELF-HELP BOOKS THAT "DID IT" FOR US. WE CAN'T DO THAT ANY LONGER. TO REACH THIS "DAVID" GENERATION, WE HAVE TO ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES AND GET IN THE DIRT WITH THEM TO GET THEM TO SEE THE ARTILLERY THAT THEY ARE HOLDING IN THEIR HANDS NOW! THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO USE WHAT WE USED. BUT THAT'S OKAY. JUST BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK FOR YOU DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT WON'T WORK FOR THEM. DAVID COULDN'T TAKE KING SAUL'S ARMOR INTO BATTLE. HE HAD TO USE WHAT HE ALREADY HAD IN HIS HAND. JUST A REGULAR OLD SLING SHOT!

JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT! REAL TALK...