How's it goinn all? It's been a minute since I last posted on here. I've been kept busy. Got a job finally, praise God. Been tryin to work on music, chillin with friends, etc, etc. BUT I'm back now, and I wanted to do a post over a topic that, in the Christian Hip Hop scene, has been catching a lot of attention. I'm talking about 11Six Clique's latest contemplation album "Man Up". I went and bought the album + DVD, and I have to say, I was blown away by both. Reach Records has been putting in a lot of work on this and the finished product shows that. Now with that said, I'm not going to spend time telling you about the album or give you any spoilers from the movie (It takes place in the ghetto, there), because I want you to go get it yourself. No, I want to talk about what I got from the movie in specific. I want to talk about what I got from it and how I want to apply it to my life, and your's. There was 6 different topics that were talked about by guys with Reach on a different segment of the DVD. Authority, Responsibility, Envy, Courage, Sexual Temptation, and Repentance. I'm a hit all 6 of em in this blog. I'm going to give my take on each from what I have experienced, from what I have read about each in God's Word, and from what I'm learning after watching this movie. So follow along with me as I go into a subject that a lot of dude's in today's world need to know about. Now I won't be saying that I am a full man. Cuz I'm not. I still have a lot of growing to do, but I have some insight that can help dude's who don't even realize that they really not Men just yet. (That's my legal disclaimer for this blog btw.) I say that jokingly, but in all seriousness, if you read this don't believe what I've typed just cuz I've typed it, but I do ask that you think over it and apply it to your life and think about how you're life is going and see if you are really a "Man" (Sorry ladies, this one's aimed particularly at the guys, however feel free to read so you may relay this to dude's you know who need to know this).#1: Authority. Something that to a lot dude's gets twisted. Who is authority? Well for us here in the U.S. it's the government. The President, Congress, Military, Judicial, Law Enforcement, etc. A lot of people in America have this "F the Government" mentality, because we notice that they haven't been doing there job to the best of there ability or we might think that they have been doing things for the wrong reasons without the people's best interest at heart. Though in a sense that may be true, we the people need to realize that this is a give and take relationship between us and those in power. I believe that the Government really does want to help our country. I just think that there are some who are in it for the wrong reasons and don't realize that their greed hurts the country. However I do think that the majority of people in Congress and the White House are wanting things to get better, they, just like us, are having to learn. It might take some time, but I think that we need to be patient. Keep in mind that God has everything in control with the U.S.'s situation. He is sovereign. He placed them in charge for reason's we don't fully know of yet. And I am just starting at home, for all my international people, your government's are probably different than our's. Yet I'm sure there are quite a few things that are the same. Here's the basic break down though. Jesus followed the authority that was here on Earth during his life. He didn't go off and retaliate on the solider's who came to arrest him. He didn't get prideful towards authority. He entrusted in the Heavenly Father. He didn't teach for people to riot against the government. He lived his purpose and kept his eyes on the Father, who is the greatest authority. I know in my own personal life I haven't always been a law abiding citizen, but I try to keep my nose clean as well as I can. I've been real good about it, but I still have a few things I could work on. So I'm not excluded when I say that, in America at least, that we need to step up to the plate and be able to let go of our pride in thinking that we know what is best for our country, and be able to put faith in God knowing that He has the people that we call our government in his hands. And if we have a solution, discuss it and share ideas off of people. If you get prideful and think that you know the solution to something, chances are you probably don't know it if you haven't talked about it with others.
I'm breaking this post into a 6 part series for each topic, just because of how late it is for me and I have to work in the morning, but I will come back Friday with Part 2 over Responsibility. Until then keep your heads up, your faith up, and for the dudes, lets Man Up.
Till Next Time
Grace and Blessings
Richie
