On that day...

"Sinner man where you gonna run to?
Oh sinner man where you gonna run to?
Oh sinner man, where you gonna run to-o-o on that day
I ran to the sea. The sea was bleedin'.
I ran to the sea. The sea was bleedin'.
I ran to the sea. The sea was bleedin'.
Oh on that day."
- Nina Simone

I remember the summer of 1999. My pastor was praying for us as we returned to college, and he looked at me and said "God has placed his hands upon you." I believed that. But knowing and doing sometimes are two different things.

In the story of Jonah, we would always talk about how it's not possible to run from God. God told him to do something. Brotha was scared, so he thought he would just sail on away. One whale's stomach later and he figured out that that plan wasn't going to work out. Lol. Paul wrote later that neither "height nor depth, angels nor demons, things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

Sometimes I feel like I've been through so much it's hard to trust the pulling of God. He gives us strengths and gifts that we can choose not to or choose to use. But it's often hard to decipher what exactly we should be using them for. It's even harder to know what our calling is sometimes. But sometimes we do know and we don't pay attention or we're scared so we pretend we don't hear God. That's when we end up in the whale's stomach. Not preaching, just speaking from experience. I ask God for direction, but he often doesn't yell, doesn't split the clouds. He forces us to listen for his whisper.

I pray for the faith to heed :)

M Dot

Pop, Pop, Pop Goes my Mind...

So I have whatever flu-like virus is going around on campus. Woke up and it felt like I was toting a bag of rocks on my head. (At first I thought it was one too many margaritas from last night (That would equal a whole "2". Lol) But my throat was also John Blazing. Argh. As someone who never gets sick, best believe I'm gonna play it up when I have the opportunity :)

Anyway, my day didn't get any better when I learned that Gerald Levert passed away... at 40! Lawd help us. I swear if they don't get black men by clubbing them over the head when they're driving in the wrong neighborhood, they get them on the streets. If not on the streets, then with heart disease (see Gerald Levert or Barry White.) Or as in Gregory Hines, August Wilson and now Ed Bradley's case... all too early with cancer. I hate to be macabre, but what is really going on?

Have to find my Levert music. I keep hearing "Pop, Pop, Pop Goes my Mind"...

Almost There...

Now playing* "Almost There" - The Jackson Five

"No matter how hard, the times may seem.
Don't give up our plans, don't give up our dreams.
No broken bridges can turn us around.
Cause what we're searching for, will soon be found.

Hey good people, how ya doin'? How ya momma doin'? Yours truly, M. Dot has been MIA for good reason. I've been serving time. LOL.

Law school is no joke. And that's the God honest truth. I should be getting another line jacket by the time this year is over. It's that serious :)

So much has happened in the world since last we rapped. Flava Flave has spawned another love child... Janet's back (and still black. Lol)... the Tigers lost the World Series... Halloween has come and gone (I was in the library dressed up as student afraid of end of the semester finals)... Reese and her hubby split. I guess it's like George Benson sings, "Everything must change/ Nothing stays the same." I don't really have anything to say that's not related to Torts law or not related to writing a legal memo. Yuck... I have turned into a law student drone.

The people here are cool. The weather is cold, but that was to be expected. I love my place and the fact that I am close to my diva, newly turned 85-year-old grandmother, who still manages to outdress me on a regular basis! Love her too much. Lol. I am trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Pending I do alright, I will have another set of opportunities I didn't have before I got here and another set of skills that I can use to help people... or sell out for filthy lucre. Hee. Hee. But right now it's a process. I am in the thick of it.

I feel like Harriet.

Will let you know when I cross dat ole rivah. Lol