South Carolina Gamecock running back Marcus Lattimore's injury reminded me just how devastating life can be and how in a moment it can all change. Long sought after dreams and childhood goals can come to naught instantly. In October 1995 I left St. Petersburg, FL seeking for a better life for myself. I saw myself heading down that path I promised I would never travel. I decided to pack up and head to KY to the job corps there. I was promised to learn a good trade and to be placed in another city to start a career once I completed my education. I took the test for my GED in Nov passed and finished up a trade by March, I was ready for a new adventure.
Hopes were dashed though, I was only 17 and could not legally be sent to live on my own. I was so upset, I felt that they'd lured me out there and lied about the opportunities that lay ahead. In my immaturity I would not listen to reason to just take another trade and wait 3 more months. I decided to go back home. I came home angry, with a chip on my shoulder. My thoughts were something like this, "there is no hope for a black man in this country", "there's no escape from the hood"...etc. With those thoughts I lost all hope and fell back into the ways those thoughts take you.
At the time I was devastated and the consequences of those next 3 years have been a headache for me. But because of those situations I am better able to see the hand of our loving Father. As I read in Mosiah 24 last night I felt impressed and have heard the same many times that my life went the way it did to show me that none could deliver me from bondage except it was by the power of an unseen hand. I now see the wisdom of it all. That now I can be a living witness of the real power of His deliverance. That is my call, to live my life in a manner to show that there is a God, who is concerned about us here and now. The God that I honor is not a god who requires us to bow before him day and a night endlessly praising him with our words. His heaven is filled with beings who "do", who work to fulfill His work. His work is to bring about our eternal happiness.
His plan has not only eternal, but also temporal salvation. He is concerned about our careers, our education, our appetites, and our simple desires. He is concerned about these things because having these in order will secure eternal education, and refined appetites, and our work will never cease as His never ceases.
You see my friends, whatever station in life you find yourself, whether from a ghetto or the hills of suburbia, the Lord placed you there to stand as a witness. He knows your desires and where you are is the place were you are most likely to realize your true potential, if you seek His strength.
This is why I love Him, because He is concerned for how were are here and now, and not just were we will live eternally. You can lean on his ample arm daily, because He is there.
