God Sees The Best Of Me !

I attended a majority white high school, in respect to the student population. Afterward, I attended a historically black, all-male institution in Morehouse College. Continuing, I earned my Masters in Teaching at Bellarmine University, and lastly, I earned my doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from Liberty University. After high school, each school I attended had a religious affiliation: Morehouse – Baptist; Bellarmine – Catholic; and Liberty – Evangelical. Aside from Morehouse College, each school was a predominantly white academic institution. And while attending these schools, I found a apparent lack of attention that addressed the issues or perspective that African Americans may have in respect to leadership principles. Still, I enjoyed being in the minority because it afforded me an

n Timothy Keller's book Every good Endeavor he explains the concept of aligning your personal work, calling, or vocation with God's. In the first chapter Keller starts it off by describing the "Design of Work” as the chapter's title mentions. Using scripture straight from the book of Genesis he points out that work was one of the first things that God put in place when he created mankind and creation. Much of what Keller is trying to communicate simply points to the idea that man was made to work. One particular instance where Keller points to this is when he says, "it is part of the blessedness of the garden of God.” He is explaining that work was not intended to apart of the punishment for sin, but rather that work was in place before sin

Chapters 3 and 4 of Tim Keller's Every Good Endeavor expanded vastly on the idea of work and the way God sees it as well as it's purposes. Chapter 3 begins with Keller describing to us our greatest work given to us by God namely our call to "fill the Earth and subdue it”. He expands on this idea of "subduing” the Earth by explaining it as more of a cultivation process. This idea makes the task itself more of a caretakers responsibility rather than a conquerors territory. We are God's representatives called to follow His pattern of development by fulfilling our individual callings. Keller also includes that we are called to creativity just as God called Adam to come up with names for the animals he wants us to create just like Him. and again

So to start we flushed out the fact that everything is for God 's glory as we focused in on Romans 11: 36 which says this "for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." we then saw that God created us for work and that work is a good thing, this was seen all throughout Genesis where we see that God created man and put him in the garden to WORK and keep it. So in the first section we see that everything we do is for God 's glory, and that we will be held accountable for our actions on earth, this is where the idea of "our life on

When I was in kindergarten and first-grade, I attended a private christian school in Reynoldsburg, Ohio called Brice Christian Academy. Moving to a public, out in the country, school the start of my second-grade year, I noticed there was a big difference in the way the students acted there compared to the private school. But not only were the students different, so were the classes as well. My take on starting somewhere new, I tended to do things on my own. Trying to make friends with people who are almost the exact opposite of everything you grew up with was not an easy task, this being relatable with Schmitt when she was trying to befriend her neighbors and not one wanted to partake in her greetings.

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out”(Luke 19:37-40). Praise and worship to God is in man’s design because it is built into his DNA structure.

Growing up as an African American in Winchester was an experience. It was not unusual for me to be the only student of color in class or a sports team; which bothered me at times, but I learned to accept the issue and figure out a way to fit in. I began to mimic my peers’ behavior; I walked like them, sought out similar clothing brands, I nearly convinced myself I thought like them. I basically created a superficial mask to hide my visible difference. And it worked, but, once I entered my two bedroom apartment on the “bad” side of town. My mask dissipated.

While at employed at the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home, I encountered children from various cultural context. The children were between the ages 12-17 with various religious beliefs, disabilities, sexual orientations, and economic status. In other words, not one child was the same as the others. As a result, I had to be open minded and careful not the generalize. As I worked with them, I learned to adopt a patient and understanding persona when interacting with them because of the different backgrounds. Because I was understanding and willing to learn about their experiences, regardless of the different backgrounds, the children felt comfortable enough to interact and relate to me. Because of the trust I had established with them, they

The town I grew up in was divided, Friendswood ISD against Clear Creek ISD. You could say I lived on the wrong side of the creek--or at least as wrong as upper-middle class, white suburbia can be. Because of where I lived, kids from FISD dominated the church close to me. At this church, as a student in CCISD, I was the minority. Friendswood kids believed we were all poor, stupid, drug addicts, and worse. I struggled fitting in at my own school; fitting in at this church was even harder. One day in Sunday school, we were all in groups working on a team building activity constructing towers out of toothpicks and marshmallows. Regina, the self-appointed leader of our group, was building the tower very tall and narrow. Having a basic understanding of balance and gravity, I suggested we make the base wider so the tower would not topple over.

Although we were not saved by works, we are called to respond to God by doing the works he prepared for

My public high school had misbehaved students and kids who didn’t care much about school. This resulted in the school having a poor academic system, although I did well it didn’t do a good job of preparing me for what was next. I attended Trevor Day School which at the time was a top 50 private school in New York City. They were granted the privilege of being on this list by having great teachers, a good learning environment, and one of the most rigorous curriculums in the city. This was a very cutthroat society that I had yet to encounter. As expected it was a drastic change, everyone was wealthier than me, there was racial tension, and in some ways it felt as if these kids were somehow smarter than me. Nonetheless, I had yet to realize that they weren’t in fact smarter than I was they just obtained the necessary tools to succeed in such an environment. I was one of the only colored guys in the school and I was on the basketball team. It was obvious that I was on financial aid and many people thought that I was granted with too much and I would fail off. Up until this point in my life I earned everything I received, but this was different; this time it was given to me. Therefore, with a lot given to me there would be a lot expected of me. I knew this prior to arriving at school, there were already a lot of eyes and pressure on

I am eighteen years old and have had opportunity to live in and travel to, diverse places within the US. Born in California, raised in Texas, grew up in Arizona, and am currently rooted in Pure Michigan. Moving to Michigan I had to adapt to new High School Junior year, establishing new life and friends. Leaving Arizona was trialing for me but I did it with great faith. Prior to leaving Arizona, Sophomore year I had let my grades sink because of the hardships I was facing at the time, including my lack of self-confidence and the fear of moving again. However, relocating allowed me to regain my self confidence back and refocus my life on Christ. With the help of the gospel in my life I was able to pick myself up and dramatically raise my grades junior year. From being a low grade student sophomore year,

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand (Proverbs 19:21

I got up in the morning like it was going to like any other day for me. On the way to the school, we drove through the local neighborhood and that it self-was an eye opening experience. My whole entire life I have been surrounded by elegant houses, but here it was not the case. There I saw abandoned and foreclosed houses where families were living in remodeled military barracks in cramped conditions with multiple families in a single house. When we finally arrived at the school and walked through the reinforced metal doors used to prevent break ins from occurring. It was what was inside of those doors that changed my outlook on society for the rest of my life. Inside I saw different races and ethnicities of students waiting to start their school day. On the contrary, to common belief, there were Caucasians, African-Americans, and Mexicans mingling altogether without any segregation. To the kids, race and ethnicity did not matter to they all viewed each other as equal and more importantly as friends. As the day went on I got to personally know a couple of students and a common thing came up and it was school. For the kid's school was their escape from poverty and domestic issues and while at school race and ethnicity never crosses their minds they do not see each white or black they see each other as classmates and

Although I trusted my parents to keep my secret, rumors began floating around about me at church. I was viewed as an "other" instead of as a normal member of the community. In finding out about this, it felt like my whole world had been flipped upside down. The group I knew to support everyone turned it's back, the friends I had made there turned into bullies, and the peaceful and joyful church I knew closed its doors on me for good. I was devistated by such rejection, but I kept fighting on.