I pray there never comes a time in my life where I am afraid to talk about my faith and my love for God.
When I was starting this blog, I went back and forth over whether I wanted to include the word God in the “About” section of my site. Not because I was ashamed of God, but because I didn’t want to turn off potential visitors who might not share my faith. So, I decided to include the word spirituality instead. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with that word because I didn’t think it was strong enough to describe my faith. So, I deleted it.
One day while washing dishes, God spoke to me. For some reason, He loves to hit me up when I’m cleaning or driving. He asked me if I were ashamed of Him. I said no. I explained that I wanted to bring people to the site and while here, they would get to know Him. We went back and forth for a while. One thing I have learned about God is that He listens and if you make a good point, He will accept it.
I often watch black celebrities enter show business and when they’re first starting out, the word God falls effortlessly from their tongue. Everything is God. I want to thank God. God, this is for you. I couldn’t do this without God. Then, as their celebrity rises, God disappears. Completely. This is not to say that they are no longer believers. I just find that He doesn’t occupy the same position He did when they were struggling. It may also be that they don’t want to offend their fans. I get it. For a moment, I had a similar thought. I didn’t want to offend visitors to my blog. But, that moment went away rather quickly, especially after my conversation with God.
Talk show legend, Steve Harvey gets a lot of hate. I honestly don’t think he deserves a lot of it. But, if there are two things I will always respect him for, it’s his workhorse mentality and his love of God. There’s never a time that I have read one of his books or listened to one of his interviews that he hasn’t mentioned God. I respect that so much. Given his level of success, he could have easily convinced himself that he didn’t need God or to acknowledge Him. But, he does.
I once sat as a studio audience member for his daytime talk show and recall Mr. Harvey saying that he promised God that if he made it he would always talk about Him. I wish I had that recorded. Mr. Harvey is a man of his word.
I am a respecter of people’s faith. It doesn’t matter what they believe. In fact, I respect them even if they don’t believe. I had to learn this ability over time.
I hope people won’t be ashamed of God, reluctant to call His name or share His word. I’m not talking about ramming your belief down someone’s throat. I could never endorse that.
But, I just want us to be the type of people who are happy to call God’s name in good times and in bad.
