Why Allow?

I have been asked and heard the question asked several times, “If God is so good why does God allow so much evil in the world?” Answers vary on this query and many times are laced with theological complexities that confuse most people. I enjoy these types of questions that doubt the simple nature of the Creator.
Why does God allow evil in the world?
He does not allow. We do. We create the negativity and we distribute it around the world. So often those that question God believe Him to be in charge of the world. On the contrary, we are in charge. We inherited a perfect world as a gift from the Creator. If our will as a community of human children was to return the world to its perfect state all we need do is good by each other the world would slowly heal.
Another common question is, “Why doesn't God just fix it?”
Remember this is our world, and if God repaired our every little mess we’d be nothing more than His slaves or He ours.
One of the greatest gifts endowed to us is free will. When we use our free will to doubt the Creator or behave negatively, we invite evil into our life. God will do what we as a single body of believers ask of Him. Indeed we can fix our problems. Every single one. The real problem is we don't truly believe we can. There are so many doubters, so many antagonists, and so few of faith. Our world is saturated with problems and few solutions. These issues are not of great concern for those that live by faith, they know the world is not right and they understand why. They pray that the world receives forgiveness and redemption. People of faith know that fault lies with us all; a community of God created beings.
I cannot speak for the masses but rather only for myself. I know the day is coming when the Truth will stand before all of us and ask a simple and poignant question, “Why do you not have faith in your Father in Heaven?”

Thanks for reading. Thanks for visiting.

Copyright © 2016 Palmer Pinckney II

What's going on?

That was the famous line from the classic song by legendary music artist Marvin Gaye. His words are as true today as they were in 1971 when the famed song was released. The seasons of 1971 was a dark time, I was only 7 years old and I can remember some of the struggles my family experienced while living in the Bay Area. Civil Rights, Vietnam, unemployment, U.S. dollar devaluation, and a Nixon presidency, all these events and many others lead many in the world during this time to question, "What's going on?"

Today there is great similarity, and in my eyes there is one huge difference - We as a society are turning from God.

I am not going to delve into the details here, I believe readers understand all too well exactly what I am writing about.

One other matter that is different today is the mindset of entitlement displayed by a very loud segment of our society. I fail to see the legitimacy of complaining or protesting about something that has not been earned. And then to boot we see destruction of public and private property in the wake of these temper tantrums. Utterly ridiculous. What is going on?

So I decided to explore holy scripture to see if I could find any parallels, and I did:

Disdain and disloyalty to country -

2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Accept and respect authority -

1 Peter 2:13-17 (NIV)

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

I am saddened by the antics I see a select few in our country today. I write few because that is how many I see - when 120 million Americans vote and less than a 100 thousand act a fool, that's a few in my sight.

Regardless, I will continue to show proper respect to everyone, and also have a little fun along the way.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for visiting.

Copyright © 2016 Palmer Pinckney II

Discipline First

Discipline is positive. Yes, it is!

I often listen to conversations that reveal a common misunderstanding between the words discipline and punishment. These talks also show that many are quick to side on the bank of punishment instead of pursuing the more rewarding effort of discipline.

In more than a quarter-century of armed forces service I can affirm that I never recommended punishment for anyone working under my charge. I always sided with discipline first. 

The word discipline comes from the Greek root word discern, literally meaning “to learn by.”

As leaders we should all strive to live a disciplined life. Quickly making a decision to punish someone or ourselves for a mistake is a poor substitute for an opportunity to teach. It's true that punishment is necessary in some cases, I am not discussing those rare cases here. Though I will say that unless you are a parent or judge or your life is in jeopardy, it's rare that a person has the authority to punish.

Teaching (disciplining) someone that has made an honest mistake reaps tremendous dividends of loyalty. Punishing first without effort towards discipline only creates misunderstanding and confusion. Teaching is a two-way dialogue that enables both people to learn. It's a wonderfully positive experience when done with patience and mutual respect. Punishment without discipline first is a cop out. 

Dr. Stephen Covey’s fifth habit for highly successful people is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood. To quickly punish someone first bypasses this important credo. If you can instill disciplined habits into your life, you can create the foundation for achieving your goals and guiding countless others to theirs. 

Our world has enough negativity in it, I choose not to partake in creating more. I will endeavor to live a disciplined life because yes, it’s positive.

Think about it.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for visiting. 
Copyright © 2016 Palmer Pinckney II 

TURNING POINTS

Today and yesterday I was emailing back and forth with a relative of mine and I was inspired to write down four attitudes that help turn negative experiences into positives.

1. Appreciate that it could have been worse.
However bad a circumstance seems and feels, it could always be worse. It may seem unnatural and perhaps silly to think of hypothetical situations when you have a real problem at hand; but thinking of all the ways the situation could have been worse makes it so much easier to accept and deal with it.

2. Trust that everything happens for a reason.
Whether good or bad, there’s a reason behind everything. Realize that if a door closed, it’s because what was behind it wasn’t meant for you. The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we're not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence.

3. Have faith in blessings in disguise.
Whatever the struggle was, whether a loss or painful discomfort, it may have saved you from something worse, or brought you closer to something better. Even if neither of these are true, then at the very least, it made you a stronger person and taught you something. And that is always a good thing.

4. Share your experience with the people around you.
One of my deepest beliefs is that if you do happen to find out how a particular problem gifted you with a blessing, share it with everyone you know so they can benefit too. The more we openly recognize how we’re fortunate, the happier and more content we all will be.

I challenge anyone reading this blog post to change how you think about inconveniences, missed opportunities, and problems, because oftentimes, it is for the best; we might just not know it.

Also… I am a realist, I understand that positive thinking and behavior is not possible for some. That is okay. I will add that if you are a person that does not have positive influences in your life I would share this piece of experience with you:

Find some! Change up your flow, rotate your friends and acquaintances and start to move forward of other people instead of staying stagnant at the same pace or direction. Don’t sweat static talk from negative influences and those who don’t share your aspirations for success.





Thanks for reading, thanks for visiting.
Copyright © 2016 by Palmer Pinckney II

Keeping it real. 

Been watching all the Oakland Raiders off-season hype videos representing a new team ready to take the field and conquer the 2016/15 season. I'm a Raider, and I know talk is cheap! It's long time my team ante up a winning season. Knock off the motivation speeches and let's reignite our Commitment to Excellence by kicking some ass on the football gridiron. 

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!???

LOST FAITH

The other day a good friend of mine approached me with tears in his eyes and said that as of that moment he had no faith in God. I invited him to private area, and we talked about his lack of faith. The first thing that I told him was that it's normal, absolutely normal to lose one's faith in times of despair. I did not quote scripture, I did not preach, I did not judge. Instead I simply stated that as a man looking at another man in pain my love for him is unconditional. I truly believe that love is the greatest gift of all. But another phenomenal gift is the gift of choice. You see choice is something that we face on a daily basis and the decisions we make when faced with these choices are what shape us into the people that we are. When I reflect on my past, the darkest points of my life were caused by the choices I made in the situations that I found myself in. In every case when I did not listen to my conscience telling me to do the right thing, giving me the proper choice, I failed. The result was I found myself miserable. Until I decided to do the right thing, is when I found myself with faith again. You see Faith is a tricky yet very simple aspect of everyone's life. I've noticed that when people say they've lost their faith often times they're not talking about God, on the contrary, they've lost faith in themselves. That's when the blame game begins. For me, I know that I can accomplish very little alone. Don't get it twisted, I don't blindly trust people but I do talk to several people, asking several questions, weighing ideas, and sharing opinions and experience, seeking decisions on choices that in most cases I already know the answer to. I find that most times when I'm asking people for guidance, that what I'm looking for is an easier path than the one I have already discovered on my own. Rarely do I find easier paths. My friend and I talked for less than 20 minutes, and we ended our discussion with mutual smiles of satisfaction having discovered one another's joys of life. I did not pray with him but I did pray for him because I know that though he says he has lost his faith in God, the fact of the matter is God still has faith and unconditional love for him.
None of us is perfect but we are all creations of a power much greater than ourselves. My choice is to never question my Creator’s faith in me but instead to have faith that all things will be revealed to me in my life in due time.

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.

Copyright © 2016 by Palmer Pinckney II "Thanks for reading, thanks for visiting."

I Am

I am a Christian. I am not perfect. I cuss. I fuss. I get pissed off. I pray! I do not lie. I do not cheat. I am! I remain positive in the face of stupidity. I am a Christian. I am not perfect. God made me to be perfect and placed me in an imperfect world where I adapted. I am Christian. I am not perfect. To anyone that would say otherwise, I reply, “You are WRONG!” Yeah, I said it. You trying to tell me what I am not? Then I tell you what you truly are in the sight and sound of your our unsubstantiated opinion. Wrong! I know me, forward, backward, diagonal, reverse, inside and out. You do not. I am a Christian. I am not perfect. You are you, so be you, and together we will seek to truly understand each other and dismiss all other opinions. It’s said that God doesn’t like ugly, well neither do I. I am Christian. I am not perfect. So all I ask is that you keep it positive when with me and never try to tell me what I am not based solely on your so-called intellectual understanding of whatever. My name is Palmer, and I am Christian. I am not perfect.

With Peace and Honor I end.

Your turn. 

Copyright © 2016 by Palmer Pinckney II