My girlfriend sent me a link to this article...did anybody else hear about this?!?!

http://www.articlesofinfo.com/article.php/23-08-2007Evangalist-Juanita-Bynum-SAVAGELY-ATTACKED-By-Husband.htm

What’s good fam? Doesn’t seem like I’ve been a contributing member of the 360 family lately, but please accept my apologizes for my absence. The results of the Blessing over my life have been taking me to levels that have been unimaginable. I think I have been missing out, looking over, refusing to acknowledge what the real definition of a purpose driven life is all about. I’ve been missing out on what I am blessed to be here on Earth for. I’ve been completely ambiguous as to why I’ve been chosen, predestined, set apart for.

Its truly a privilege to be able to give God the glory that I’ve been chosen to give him. To glorify Him with the life that’s been purchased on my behalf. What? Did you not know that you were bought with a price? Did you not know that your life is not your own? If you’re redeemed, then your life is NOT your own. So what gives you the right to life in your own limited comfort? Remember that whoever tries to save their own lives will lose them and whosoever loses their life for His sake will truly gain Life. (Matthew 16:25) It is my goal to please God by living the life that He would have me to live which is FAR beyond my power to do, so I shall allow Him to truly be Lord over me.

My birthday is coming up this upcoming Sunday July, 8^th and no matter how cliché, I will just be thankful to have another year. It was ONLY by the mercy of God that I haven’t been consumed and by His grace that I have been able to be where I am today. Just for informational purposes I accept money orders, cashiers checks, Paypal, and since I’ll have a merchant account soon…credit cards as well! Feel free to sow into some good soil.

I’ve always thought about this…where does darkness come from? What is being cold all about? I’m an engineer so naturally I know scientifically that there is no such thing as creating darkness or coldness for that matter. Darkness and coldness are just the absence of light and heat, respectively. As the Prince of the air, Satan, the ruler of darkness only reins over what has no light. The areas of our lives where we struggle with spiritually, the voids in our lives that we try to fill with substance, as well as the areas in which are “cold” or that seemingly have no life, simply need to have light shined there. As simple as it sounds, God wants to be God. When we allow Him to be who He is and when we don’t try to take his place. He’s a gentleman; He won’t come where He isn’t welcomed. Allow Him to be Lord and just sit back and allow Him to receive the glory.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Below is a letter that a friend of mine sent to Oprah this past week in response to her "Town Hall" shows. How many of you agree with her stance on the issue of African Americans, poverty, etc?

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Dear Oprah,

I love your show, but it is not often that I have the opportunity to watch lately due to my hectic schedule with school. I am a senior at Clemson University, which is located in Clemson, SC. No…it is not a Historically Black College or University, but we do rear great intellectuals of the African American descent. I honestly feel as though, God allowed my professor to cancel class today in order for it to be possible that I see Day 2 of your town hall meeting. It was just two days ago that I literally became sick to my stomach in result of being exposed to the images that are pasted on BET and MTV on a daily basis. These images are not only found in the music videos, but also in sitcoms like, “I Love New York.”

After watching your show today, I refuse to believe that the issue behind degrading our women in today’s society is about poverty. Yes, poverty is alive in the black community, as well as the white community.

THE DIFFERENCE LIES IN THE FACT THAT THE BLACK COMMUNITY UPLIFTS AND PROMOTES POVERTY.

The images portrayed in rap music are the beginning of a cycle that has yet to end. As Russell Simmons stated on your show, artist are encouraged to speak from within. We cannot censor the words and emotions of a “poet” that arise from his experiences in life. And if his experiences are of a poverty-stricken nature, then he is expected to verbalize what he feels in response to these experiences. One thing that the majority agreed upon during your show was that poverty is an issue that needed to be addressed due to its “negative” affects on the black community. I have seen music videos, compact disk covers, and urban magazines that are covered with images of rap stars, which say that they are a representation of poverty-stricken communities. These rap stars appear with exposed women, alcohol, and sometimes even marijuana. And those images are used in the marketing and promotion of rap music to a target audience that consist of our young black children. And this is where the cycle begins.

The music industry makes the ghetto appear to be a pleasant experience through images. In listening to music, we sometimes overlook the words because the rhythm is attractive. I am a Graphic Communications major, so I know that images are a vital characteristic in marketing. Images are an exchange of information in a visual form. So, let us look at what these images in connection to the music are communicating to our youth.

Let us first look at an innocent, easily influenced, male child from a poverty-stricken community. He sees a compact disk cover that includes images of money, cars, exposed women, and a well-known rapper. Because he is a man, usually the first thing that would attract his attention would be the exposed women, usually. Then because of his financial status, he would be attracted to the money and cars. Now his admiration for the rapper is only a result of the rapper’s possessions and status in the poverty-stricken community. Let us not forget that he has not even opened the compact disk for a listen yet. But when he does, he hears this rapper that he admires refer to the women as whores and boast about how many of these whores he can attract because of his possession of money and cars. Must I go any further? Yes.

We still have not addressed the affects that this same music would have on an innocent, easily influence, female child from the same community. Let us take this one from a different angle, only to emphasize the many avenues the media uses to get this “ghetto is great” message across. An innocent, easily influence, young female from the same poverty-stricken community is at home alone because her single mother works two jobs and cannot afford to hire a babysitter. While she has been instructed not to open the door for strangers, her dinner has been prepared and left in the microwave, and her pajamas set out for bedtime, she finds no other entertainment after she is done with her homework than BET. Now, I am sure that this young girl would love for her mother to be at home while she is there. She may not even get to see her mother when she awakes in the morning because her mother is sleeping in order to be well rested for another day at work. These videos that she is exposed to on a daily basis show her that she can get the attention that from men by exposing herself. On top of that, the videos also imply that men will give her money and shower her with gifts if she meets this “standard.” I am more than sure that she does not want to follow in her mother’s footsteps with two jobs and no time at home.

The rap community promotes this type of behavior in men and also in women. The images that are shown on a daily basis say that it is not only okay, but it is cool to act out in this manner. When it goes too far, is where poverty steps in. The same innocent, easily influenced, male child grows up and becomes attracted the now well-developed innocent, easily influenced female child. They follow the trend, and she becomes a teenage mother in the same poverty-stricken community, and the cycle never ends.

Some men tend to excuse taking advantage of women and degrading them because women allow them to do it. Do they ever think that some women come from an environment where they did not get a lot of attention? There may not have been someone to tell them that they loved them every night before they went to bed. Do they ever think that some women may not have had anyone to tell them any better? Why not step up into that role and let these women know that they can be better? This job is not only reserved for your daughters, sister, and cousins. Stop referring to these temptations as weaknesses. After all you are supposed to be the stronger vessel. God made Adam, and then he made Eve. And she bit the apple. Follow in the footsteps of the first man, and lead!

There was a time when you would visit inner city ghettos and they would respond that they only way out was to either become a rapper or an athlete. I have never seen an NFL draft that has taken a kid straight from high school. The NBA even has recently implement a one-year of college minimum before entering the draft. The rap music industry talks a great deal about what they tell our young black youth outside of what they rap, but actions speak much louder than words. In reality, the rap industry has done nothing. And if you include the teen summits that you hold in the major cities like New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc., then sell your music to only those major cities. I have never seen a rapper come to my community to encourage my younger brother who recently got expelled from school and aspires to be a rapper to stay in school. Poverty is a result of complacent attitudes that are influenced by the promotion of rap music and the idea that the ghetto is fabulous.

Wassup fam...I know I'm hardly ever here, but I love and miss you guys so much. I gotta stop thru and drop something on ya every now and again. I see the regular 360ians are still at it. Keep on pushin my people...keep on pushin! Congrats to my girl Cream on her recent engagement!

I just wanted to drop this quote on ya right quick. It really moved me (along with many other things I've been reading lately...but just check this out. I'll be back periodically...still love you guys!...Step, Cream, Heaven's Best (RIP..lol)...Dre, Da Mac man himself(Big Bro)...and so many others....charge it to my head...not to my heart. Love you guys...be back soon. All love...God's love....Be Blessed!!


"Over the years I've come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection
When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection...Self-rejection is the grates enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence." ~Henri J.M. Nouwen