God Control

by

Deacon Dan

I am sure that most of you have been as alarmed as I have with the many school shooting throughout our country in  recent years. The most recent shooting occurred today (February 29, 2000). It happened in Flint, Michigan, not in their local High School, not even in their middle school. It was in an elementary school and worst of all, it was in a FIRST GRADE CLASSROOM. Yes, you read correctly! A SIX year old boy shot his SIX year old first grade classmate. When does it stop? Shootings in our high schools, middle schools and now FIRST GRADE!

Already, there has been an outcry for more strict gun control. Is this the answer? Certainly, we need to work harder to ensure that guns do not get into the wrong hands, but are guns the real problem? The problem is not the guns, but the problem is the use of the guns by humans.

(This is not an article on the merits of gun control or not, but an article on God Control!)

WE need more GOD CONTROL! What is that? "God Control" is the act of letting God CONTROL our lives, our families and our society. Would a person even THINK about hurting, let alone killing another, if they were exercising God Control. When we totally allow ourselves to follow the laws of God, hen whether we are 6, 66, or a 106, we approach all situations with Love instead of hate or reprisal.

Too many people in our society today do not know God. They know OF God, but do not know Him personally. Therefore, if they do not know Him, how can they experience and share His Love with others.
 

 Think back to when and how you first came to know God! Who brought Him
  to you?  Who showed you His Love? Your, mom, dad, neighbor, friend or
 stranger? Too many people, particularly our youth do not understand how
 God in their lives can make monumental experiences for them that they
could never get without God. Have you (or I) done our part to bring God to
 those you know or don't know as someone did for you? Are you doing
 enough? Could you do more? It is my guess that we all could probably do
 more, I know that I could! Do we take stands when God is insulted or set
 aside? Do we take stands when we are told that we can not pray in a
 certain place? Do we tell others how God has changed our lives?

 The hallmark of the Black Family from the beginning has been its strong
 reliance on God. No matter how bad things are or how good things were, We
 still depended on God to deliver us and guide us as a people. We allowed
 God to control our lives and our families. What about today? I dare say,
 that things are not the same today as they were for our forefathers. "Give
me that old time Religion" any day!

 Whether we are Black, Brown, White or turquoise, we have given God very
 little time in our lives. We opt for the more modern stance of "ME", not
 "THEE"!

 Let's advocate for more GOD CONTROL in our society. Don't be ashamed of  the Gospel!

 Next Wednesday March 8th is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Many
 of you will be giving up something and making sacrifices during these 40
 days. Yep, alas, some of us are still giving up candy, donuts, smoking,
  beer or asparagus. This Lent, let's do a little more that just give up
 something, let's give something. Let's give others the love of God. I
 challenge each  of you with a simple challenge this Lent.

 I say simple because it is simple, but extremely meaningful. Each day
 during Lent, hug 2 people a day and tell them as you hug them that "Our
 Brother Jesus Loves you". The catch is, that it has to be 2 different
 people each day, and it can not be people that you would hug anyway. It
 needs to be people that you would normally not hug, either out of fear,
 hate, distance, etc.

 So again, the challenge is starting March 8, 2000, hug 2 different
people every day during Lent and while hugging them, say the exact words "Our
 brother Jesus Loves you". Watch the difference that this will make in
 their lives and YOUR life.

 Nervous about that....exercise a little GOD CONTROL and let HIM take
over and watch what happens.

 Lastly, I encourage you to do two more things. First, if you have not visited
 the peace pledge page at:
 http://www.cathworld.org/peace/peacewall 
 please do so and make a pledge of peace.

 Secondly, many of us started the "Prayer before" Novena back in August,
 join us on March 4th and let's combine our prayers and pray the Novena
 together for the 9 days. You can get a copy of it from:
 http://www.cathworld.org/peace

If we all make this commitment of Peace and more God Control in our lives,
 we can turn this whole thing around. NOW is the time, not tomorrow, not
 next week, but TODAY. Let's bring God back into our lives, family and
 community and when we do this, instead of hearing about a six year old
 killing another six year, maybe, just maybe we will turn on the news and
 just see people living as children of God as we all should.  Take a
 stand, call for more GOD CONTROL!

 Serving the Lord with the Love of Christ and the Peace of St. Francis,

Deacon Dan Gilbert

Have you gotten started yet? NO! Then get started at: 
http://www.cathworld.org/genesis 
Visit Deacon Dan at: deacondan@minister.com
Visit his website at: Black Catholic Search Engine
Read his previous articles at: http://www.cathworld.org/deacondan/dialog/archive

Holy angels Church, An African American Catholic Church.