Searching For The Next Move Wont Help: God's The Answer?

I've come to a conclusion these days...people expect for everything to be solved with God and religion. Is this actually true that it will? No. If you know me, you would know that I am a very religious Muslim man. I praise God and thank him daily for all that he has done for me and my family. We're very blessed. But that being said...even during times of poverty, sadness, and whatever else the world throws at people to have them in a state of needing an answer...we prayed to God for help in doing what we needed to do and went out and did it ourselves hoping he would be there. But what is the main point there? That we didn't use God as a crutch or to put everything on him, like he's going to magically come down and throw us a million dollars with some answers to questions.

And that's what I think is wrong today with some of the people out there. Not to mention the nuts in these mega-churches that think the pastor/reverend is some kind of messiah or prophet. Can someone explain to me when it became God's job to fix your relationship or take you out of your situation? That's crazy talk to me. I say God is there in order to guide us in the right direction, not to come from the sky with baby milk since you spent the money on the club. Yes, I know there are tons of families out there in bad situations because of chance or life...but that still doesn't give them a reason to go and put everything in hopes that God will save them without them putting in some work also. Pastors say it all the time, "God helps those that help themselves". Putting all your cards on God while holding your weed in one hand, a bottle of Ciroc in the other, and crying about not being able to make it out the projects after losing your job and not having enough money to pay the mortgage instead of doing your best to solve the issue (even if it includes filling for Bankruptcy) is what will lead to a long line of living on the edge. Once saw a woman with a kid on True Life (on MTV)...her income (which was only from child support) couldn't pay all of her bills (though she lived alone instead searching for someone to live with). How did she manage? She would randomly end up with money each month from different sources. How long can you last like that?

When i was younger, I heard someone say that Christianity is the poor man's religion. When you think about such a statement, the first thing that should come to mind is the fact that so many Americans are Christians (from all kinds of economic levels). Then you might stop and think...hold on...are we considering Christianity to be all sects, or are we diving them up? I know I don't consider Catholics to be the same (especially after going to a Catholic church). But then you think about all the people in low income neighborhoods that rely on God for everything. Makes you wonder why the ratio of higher economic people are in churches less often and talk about it less...or is it just based on the specific cultures they belong to. And honestly, I agree....Christianity is the poor man's religion. I can go on for days making little points about why, but that will end will an extra long post lol. Think about it yourself and tell me what you think. Does religion (all religions included) give an excuse for people in bad situations to stay there? Is it a way for people to pass the blame of their situation and what has happened to them? Or is it just the personality of those individuals all wrong??

Wonder how real or valid the below pictures are....? And if they are valid, I see a connection between economy and religion lol

Story Time (By memory): There once was a woman that was lost at sea in a small boat. Away from everyone and no way to call for help, she waited for a sign from God. A ship came by and saw her in need of help. She told him : "No thank you, God is coming to help me and will provide a sign". The ship left along with the crew. Another ship came and saw her. When they came close, she told them: "No thank you. I'll be ok. God will save me and show me a sign". As time passed...the woman died. When she got to heaven she asked God: "Hey, I was in need of your help, why didn't you save me or show me a sign?". Then God replied: "I did send you signs, I sent two ships that wanted to save you."

Happy With Your Choices?: Is It Love?

I wanna love you and treat you right....I wanna love you every day and every night.......................Is this love - is this love - is this love -Is this love that I'm feelin'?

I can only imagine how many kids were being created to this Bob Marley song. I promised a friend of mine I would talk about love in a post, so.....here I am. But the question is...what do I have to really say about love? Currently I only love my family and close friends. Have I ever been in love though? Yeah. I've said the L word multiple times in my life, and thought I felt it, but honestly only think I've felt it two times in my entire life. First girl.....Nicole. The second....Antoinette. The potential.....Camille lol. Yes I said potential. I'll explain why in a bit.

Nicole...I met her in church in my sophomore yr of high school. I remember thinking in my head that she was beautiful and looked too good for me (I don't think about anyone that way anymore lol). We had a mutual associate and he introduced us randomly. I kept telling myself that it was no point meeting her since she would never want to talk to a guy like me. But after a church trip that changed our relationship....we moved to the "talking" phase. It started as us just wanting to "kick it" with each other, but it wasn't happening since I thought she lived further than she actually did. But after a year of on and off talking, I went to her house, was seduced, and she became my girl. November 2, 2004. Got engaged at the end of our senior yr of high school. Our plan was to get married after college. So what did we do? We went off to college away from one another. Talked less. Saw each other 1 time during the school year. And a string of actions cause me to not trust her and leave her...but because we still loved one another...the plan was to get back together after college and tell one another nothing about our experiences in college.

Antoinette....met her through a friend (well my friend's girlfriend at the time). First time I met her...I thought slim and not my type. But a very physical relationship started after that. It was summer time and when we really started dating and she wasn't girlfriend material. But because of convenience, we continued to mess around. What can I say though...we grew on each other. She fell in love with me and I would begin to include her in my life more and would stay with me in college. Somehow we kept our convenience. She lives 1.5 hrs away and school 30 minutes...but spent days on end together. This would be the second place we really lived together. The first being a friend's place in the summer. What happened after 2.5 yrs of living together and everyone expecting you to get married some day? Although her fam loved me, and mine loved her......she was open to me and my transition in life and me open to hers....but I wasn't happy with all our arguing. No faster way to drain me than to argue all the time with me. So after her doing things behind my back and making a last attempt to recover things....she ended up with a guy I didn't like and was a "friend" to her.

Camille...I met her doing community service in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She went to my old college. We ended up liking one another and as I saw how smart she was and fun to be around...that only increased. We tried becoming more serious, but a lack of effort to see me made me leave. I need to see my girl and whenever I tried, she would be AWOL. Can't go months without seeing a girlfriend that lived 10 minutes at times and 30 minutes during school breaks. Ended before love could arrive, but it could have happened.

So where is the love now? Nicole, after dating other guys became a guy hater and we ended up never talking again (I'm serious when I tell girls if you don't respond to me, then I will cut you off). Antoinette is happy with her boyfriend and I am happy for her. We both moved on well and talk now and again. When they started dating she told me that she wants to have fun and be with him....then maybe we could be together in the future....but I don't go with females that once let me go. Camille...we talk here and there. I feel as if no matter what happens in our lives, I will somehow end up with her. She means a lot to me and I mean a lot to her. Will I love again? Yeah, sure. Why not. No point in being unhappy. Those 3 relationships were great relationships to me. Great Relationships. Problems and all.

I won't wait around and let it come...I'm the guy, I have to go find the girl, BUT....the love shall find me. One song I would sing often though when I was down about a girl.......

I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;

I don't wanna wait in vain for your love.

From the very first time I rest my eyes on you, girl,

My heart says follow t'rough.

But I know, now, that I'm way down on your line,

But the waitin' feel is fine:

So don't treat me like a puppet on a string,

'Cause I know I have to do my thing.

Don't talk to me as if you think I'm dumb;

I wanna know when you're gonna come - soon.

  ~Bob Marley, Waiting In Vain

Maybe This Maze Isn't For You: The Pre-Nup

This has been a talk I have had a couple times lately with females and it seems as majority of females are against signing it and wont or against it, but still will sign it to get it out of the way. My thing......Sign That Pre-Nup lol. I won't get married without one. You can say I value money over the relationship, you can say I am thinking about the marriage breaking up before it even starts...I care not. What do I care about?? The fact that there are so many females out there that are hungry to get some money....the fact that there are times a female can become bitter and want to screw someone over. And I know what you're thinking.....why not just find a better wife??? Well its not that easy. You can't always tell a female is after money...and you can't know when a female is going to feel bitter and want revenge. That stuff is unpredictable. That is why there is a pre-nup.

Its like insurance for people that want to protect their assets. Just like health insurance is to protect people from paying tons of money in the situation that something did happen.....and death insurance is made to cover the loss of a person with money going to whomever....or even dental plans are for assuring that if something happened with my teeth or a situation popped up...I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. So what is wrong with me saying to you:

"Baby, in the slim situation in which we break up....we should make an agreement from now that we won't become vengeful and want to hurt the other by taking away the things that are theirs"?

 Now you're thinking....well in a marriage everything is shared and an "Us" thing. Lies lol. We all have our own personal things and space. If I have golf clubs, can you use them? Yes. By all means. But its a known fact that those golf clubs are mine and I am allowing you to use them. I don't expect to walk into the bathroom to use your makeup without asking....why? Because its YOUR makeup lol. It is your belonging. Your property. So yes, marriage is about US....but that doesn't mean we don't have personal things.

Like if I am the bread winner and you are a stay at home mother.....Oh Hells Yes being a stay at home mother is a full time job in itself, BUT that does not mean that the money I was bringing in should be split in half after we break up and be given to you. That is crazy. Just as bad as that alimony stuff. I want to find the judges that came up with these things and fight them in a back alley. No way.....No how...am I just going to give my belongings to a female that I am no longer with. You look at stars that pay millions to ex wives or have to come out of pocket because of this stuff. Will I have millions? Don't know yet. But I'll be damned if my money goes to her.

Think about this.....we are happily married and living a great life....then just because we break up and leave one another I have to continually pay for you to keep living the life that you was use to during the marriage.....or having to give up 50% of everything... WHY?? We are no longer together. You shouldn't get to have that life anymore.

How Important Is Your Next Decision: What Means The Most To Me

Recently I had a debate with some of my followers on twitter on the matter of Respect. Oddly enough, most did not view the concept of Respect the way I did. For some reason people see Respect as being a common courtesy. But to me, if you give out Respect to everyone, then that dilutes (water down lol) the value of your Respect. Think about it...if I send a good morning text to everyone in my phone book every morning, then people will expect it and its just something that I do. Not something they care about much, just something I do. Then what is the outcome...? The value of my good morning text loses value and richness. It is no longer something special. Its the same with Respect. If I have Respect for every single person I see and meet, then that means that having my Respect isn't a special thing. Why? Because everyone else has it.

Now do I think you should disrespect others? No. Not at all. People should be treated the way that you want to be treated and given common courtesies...BUT.....Respect is not one of them. For me to Respect you, you must earn it in some way. Whether by the way you think, the things you're doing with your life, or even just how you go about things. Actions and Train of Thought are more important things than people let on sometimes. So I hold my Respect very highly. And refuse to just give it to anyone. Other things I'm big on....Loyalty and Trust. Maybe its because I was raised on mob movies as a little kid instead of cartoon movies and family movies. Single digit age range and learning certain values of life from Carlito telling his cousin in Carlito's Way that "A favor will kill you faster than a bullet" or the intensity behind Sonnie telling the bikers in A Bronx Tale "Now yous can't leave". Those are the things that made me who I am today in many ways.

My Loyalty...is golden. Once you have me on your team, I'm there until the end. Whatever you're in need of, I will try my very best to get it for you. Thinking about it, I'm like a dog in many ways. You feed a dog and he will always stay at your side. No matter what happens to that dog....if you're the person feeding him...he will be open to losing his life for you. And that is me. What do you feed me? Your Loyalty. What do I picture when I say Loyalty? A king and his knights. Who's the king? Well this role is interchangeable. When I am thinking about who I have Loyalty for...I'm the knight...and in reverse for those with Loyalty for me. I don't think there will ever be a way to explain what Loyalty means to me. But one thing is for sure, those that call me their brother or close friend....they know how Loyal I am. And know what I would go through to be at their side.

Trust, this is something deep for me. I never saw myself being able to trust people. Mob movie rule number one....never trust people lol. I use to think about my mother trying to kill me at times with the food she made. Crazy? Yeah, I guess. But I have always been a paranoid person. Then more than now. But I trusted nothing around me. Until you've had people running around 40 deep (no exaggeration) looking for you....people following you from class to class to know your schedule.....or even being "Marked" by local gang members...then you don't know why my paranoia was there. But these things happened to me, and the mob movies prepared me, and being paranoid saved my life. So as the situations arose, I knew what to do and made it out with only a hip injury. My Trust, when it comes to females is pretty low also. Its another thing that you have to earn with me. At the very most nowadays, I give a short level of trust to people...and they build/destroy it from there.

I guess its a no brainer why I was called General by every single person that knew me (outside of my teaching experience) from the end of my high school years to the end of my college career. Yes that includes many of my professors lol. And anyone that didn't call me such.....were dis-communicated expeditiously. So if you ever have the honor of being Respected by my, Trusted by me, and having my Loyalty....then there is nothing you can't ask for and nothing you can't achieve. Because I will be there to push and support you.

My favorite General:

 The Honorable General Robert E. Lee

Fought for the wrong side, but did it well

Outlasting several Union generals during the Civil War

And became a known icon for the Civil War