To everything there is a season(the Bible)

In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3- it states, “There is a time for everything, a time and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build…”
I say now is the time to tear down and rebuild.  During this historic election, it is time we as a nation, as a people under God, as a people who have power and authority, as God’s children, to take a stand for our beliefs.  It is time we stop talking about rocking the vote, but it’s time that we actually do rock the vote!

I can’t and won’t even attempt to tell you who to cast your vote for.  All I ask is that you get up, get out and exercise your rights to vote, to choose, to decide, to help make a change.  We cannot continue to live, or ever think to thrive rather than merely survive if we don’t do something to stop the madness of the last eight years.  I know that there are some of you who say that your vote doesn’t count or that the presidential election is not decided by the people but instead by the electoral college.  Excuses, excuses, excuses.  God doee not want us to be slothful in anything.  In all things we should be who He has called us to be.  That means that He has blessed each of us with talents, with gifts with power and a sound mind.  We must not rest on our laurels. 
I proudly announce my support of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Is it because Barack has skin like mine that I’m voting for him?  YES that’s one reason.  Is it because Barack Obama stands for change?  YES that’s another reason.  Is it because Barack seems to identify with people of all classes, races, socioeconomic status and religion?  YES that’s still another reason.  Is it because Barack and Michelle look like the perfect couple who supports one another?  YES, that’s a reason for me too.  Is it because he is a Harvard Graduate, a Community Organizer, a people person, a man of many colors, races, and one who has had to wear many hats?  An Astounding YES.  Is it because he is a man who exemplifies what it means to be a true leader?  Oh Yes, Yes, and Yes again.
There may be some who read this blog and disagree with my choice for president of the United States.  That’s fine.  That’s the beauty of living in a world such as this.  That’s the reason it is of utmost importance for you, and you, and you, and me to go to the polls whether it’s raining, sleeting or snowing.  Whether the sun is shining or the clouds are hanging low that day.  Go to the polls whether your stomach aches or your head hurts.  Go, be obediet to the law of the land – Vote.  One person CAN change the world.  My Jesus Christ did it.  Now go forth and make a difference in the world.

Award winning NY Times Bestselling Author
Shelia E Lipsey
www.shelialipey.com
http://twitter.com/shelialipsey

Stepping Into My Own – Your Own

We’ve enjoyed a full month of celebrating Black History. I’ve been enlightened, informed, and certainly I have enjoyed all that EDC-creations offered during the Black History Online Month event. Kudos to Miss Ella D. Curry!From this month long celebration many things have been birthed in my spirit. Which leads to my blog for this week.  Listening to so many talented, gifted, blessed, entertaining, and all out remarkable people has been mind boggling for me.  We possess so much talent, so many gifts that the world is in need of knowing about, reading about, hearing about and learning about.  We have so much to share, so much to give, so much to pass on to our children, to our future. It’s time to Step Out.  Step Out Into Your Own. It’s time for me to Step Out Into My Own. It’s time to grab hold of the dream and place it into a real, functioning, existing piece of our lives.  It’s for you and me to Step Into Our Own by making sure the future of our children and our children’s children is secured.  Now is the time to make a difference.  Now is the time to stop ‘talking about it’ and start ‘being about it’. We have much to offer, not only by means of the literary world, but the political world, the world of science, techonology and space.  We have doctors, lawyers, astronauts, brain surgeons, inventors, scientists, athletes, great literary authors, plus more, more and more! As a people, we can make this world a better place, when we learn that we must first take a step into the right now. Take a step into our future by starting today. Take a step into our dreams and bring them back into the realm of reality.  Force our dreams to come true.  I must first Step Into My Own before I can reach out and help someone else, especially a child.  Most children learn and retain more by watching others.  It’s been said that no matter how much we teach our children, that they do most of their learning by watching what we do.  How then, can we encourage them to pursue the desires of their hearts when we have given up on our dreams, and allowed them to be snuffed out and placed on the dusty shelves of our frightened minds?  How can we tell them to believe, trust, and have faith in God, when all they see when they look at us is fear, self-condemnation and a lack of faith in the very God we tell them to cling to?  How can we, as a people, tell them to help one another when all they see when they look at us is a spirit of jealousy and envy over the accomplishments and achievements of our brothers and sisters?  How can we, I ask you, guide them in a direction that will point the way to doing and being whatever they choose to be or become in life, if when they look at us, they see us escaping in a sea of drugs and alcohol to hide the fear of failure that camps within our minds.  When will you and I, me and you, understand and grasp hold of the fact that tomorrow really is not promised to no man, woman, not even a child?  We are a dying people.  Death is ineveitable for each of us, no matter of our race, socio-economic class, color, education, or position.  We are all headed in the same direction. So, while we live, while the blood runs warm in our veins, while we have the ability and the capability, while we have the source, the means and the talents; while we have these things, now is the time to teach our children to grasp on to every single moment of life that they possess.  Now is the time to teach them that they do have what it takes to make good things happen.  Teach them that: One person CAN change the world.  One person CAN change a community.  One person CAN be a leader of millions!  One person CAN do what another dared not do.  One person CAN…But only if I take the first step.  Only if I Step Into My Own…Can You Step Into Your Own!  It has to start with one step.  Why not start with making it – Your Step? You just read: Words According to Shelia-E Author of