As much as I truly loved the feel, the look, and the unique design of my blog’s last theme, a mandatory WordPress 2.7 upgrade has required me to “change” my blog’s beloved template.

For those of you who watched me struggle to build this blog from scratch during 2007, you know it took many weeks to tweak my last “customized” theme.  Because Change was inevitable, overcoming my perfectionistic tendencies became “mandatory.”  There are still many features that still don’t work. To view the “archives,” you must still use the Calendar in my Sidebar.

I’m cracking up right now because I remember how many times I’ve talked about “personal leadership” or  personally challenged many of you to “face your fears and embrace Change.” Because Change was inevitable, exposing my “public failures” has gifted me with a plethora of “private victories.” What are some of the private victories you achieved during 2008?

Because Change is inevitable, what bad habits, fears, and self-imposed limitations did 2008 challenge you to overcome? How many “Big Dreams” did your fears of Adversity, Setback, Failure, and Poverty prevent you from birthing during 2008 because you’re still afraid to face your fears and embrace Change?

How many of you still find yourselves listening to the negative voice of your internal critic? Why? Who are you still trying to please? Why? Whose “attention, approval, and acceptance” are you still frantically trying to gain in vain? Why? How many of you still haven’t finished “writing the vision” God gifted to you many full moons ago?

Because Change was inevitable, I’ve been extremely busy researching and developing a new professional set of technical l skills to effectively employ during 2009. So, if you don’t like what you see, don’t worry.  Neither do I.  The current look and feel of this new theme is only a temporary “quick fix” until I can finish customizing a new template to accommodate all the new features we will gradually roll out next year.

Once again, you’ll get to watch an imperfect person like me with good intentions and bad habits  like mine share yet another humbling series of public failures. Why? Because I love you.  Love still inspires me to get up, show up, and challenge other humbled beginners like  you to “honestly believe it’s possible to beat impossible odds with God’s help and achieve Greatness.”

“But by grace still go I.”

Copyright (c)2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

“Nevertheless, there is at least one defining moment that occurs in the life of every generation when limit-testers, who honestly believe there are destined to become great, will choose to face their fears and embrace Change for the first time.” — Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness

After almost 2 years of waiting, what I’ve been calling “America’s Defining Moment” for 2008, has finally arrived. On Election Day 2008, American voters will get up and show up at polling locations to choose the 44th President of the United States Of America. During America’s Defining Moment, the whole world is watching America right now and anxiously waiting to see whether or not American voters will choose to face “our deepest fears,” overcome our biggest fears, and embrace Change. For our children’s sake, our generation cannot afford to get it wrong again.

Please click on “The Inspiration For Change“ if you’re a first-time visitor or just simply don’t remember what inspires Change.

For the first time, our generation can do something tangible to galvanize our fractured, financially faltering country, a country that has been racially polarized and emotionally divided from within for too long and for all the wrong reasons. For the first-time, our generation can achieve what the diligent descendants of our enslaved, albeit resilient, ancestors had enough faith in God to believe that the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech would one day become a reality.

One of my “Big Dreams” for 2008 was to live long enough to witness President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk side-by-side into their destiny by beating impossible odds and completing the task before them with God’s help. The Obama family has done their part to give all Americans a reason to remain hopeful, a reason to believe that better days are coming, a reason to believe that we can all achieve great things. Matters not the colour of the skin our gifted souls are wrapped within.

My wife, KWiz, and I voted early. We both chose to cast our votes for President Barack Obama. Now, it’s up to each and every one of us to do our part to help the Obamas make history today as we pray on bended knee. Together, we can begin the arduous process of tearing down the imaginary wall that has divided America from within. Imagine the endless parade of possibilities that will appear if we choose to honestly believe that our generation can “achieve greatness.” But be forewarned.

“To impede Change, the predatory employees of Ain’t Fairusee’s mega-corporation must keep you and your generation from achieving greatness. Since your antagonists still believe the end always justifies the means, choose the battles you fight and the paths you walk wisely.” — Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness

Since Power concedes nothing without a struggle, will you have the presence of mind to choose the path you walk and the battle you fight wisely? Can you stop going-along just to get-along with the spiritually-blinded status quo who remain shackled and chained to a “win-at-all-costs slave mentality?” During America’s Defining Moment, what will you choose to do when Adversity strikes, when your cars get booted and towed away, when poll workers lack the resources they need, when the ballots are printed incorrectly, when the weather refuses to cooperate, when the police set up road blocks to intimidate you? Think about it.

During America’s Defining Moment, will you choose to love loving one another instead of loving to hate another person just because of the colour of their skin? Will you choose to do the right thing by casting your vote for Senator Barack Obama because voting for Senator John McCain simply doesn’t pass the common sense test? Do you have the inner strength of character, the confidence, and the courage to cross politically divisive party lines and dance to the beat of a different drum? I hope so.

For the first time, our generation can choose to elect a brilliant person, who just happens to be a Black man, as the next Commander-In-Chief of the United States Of America. Imagine that! Only God truly knows whether or not the culturally diverse members of humanity’s global village will choose to walk together in peace by faith and work together as one for the greater good during “our journey towards greatness.”

During America’s Defining Moment, always expect the unexpected to happen when least expected. Matters not what happens next. Trust God.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Copyright (c) 2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

“I am unwritten. Can’t read my mind. I’m undefined. I’m just beginning. The pen is in my hand. Ending unplanned. Staring at the blank page before you.” — Natasha Bedingfield

Click on the highlighted word “Unwritten” to watch Ms. Natasha Bedingfield’s video. I hope you will enjoy this visual masterpiece as much as I have and still do.  May this inspiring song cure your writer’s block.

“Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten” — Natasha Bedingfield

Yesterday’s homecoming celebration of Mr. Tim Russert, television journalist and moderator of “Meet The Press,” has inspired this post. To Tim’s wife, Maureen, may God’s love comfort you and your family during these difficult days. To Tim’s son, Luke, may your father’s precious soul rest in God’s peaceful presence always and forever.

Never again will my Sunday mornings be the same without the privilege of watching the one man whose effective example of “personal leadership” has inspired millions of ordinary, everyday people to “Go Get Em!!” May today’s post challenge all who read these words to live without limits, love without conditions, and lead like Jesus Christ did — by example.

If tomorrow never comes, how much more valuable would your yesterday become to you today? If you knew beforehand when your last tomorrow was going to come, what would you choose to do differently with the rest of your todays?

“For the first time,” would you choose to finally face your biggest and deepest fears? Would you challenge the people you love to dig deep enough inside the heart of their gifted souls to unearth the courage needed to learn how to love loving one another?

If tomorrow never comes, how would you choose to live the rest of your life today? Think about it. But please don’t take too long because it’s later than you think.

Copyright 2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

This “revised” post now only contains the Prologue to Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness, “When Good People Become Great.” As time permits, I will begin posting brief excerpts from this introspective, inspirational story about “personal leadership” to inspire you to “face your fears and embrace Change.” Only then will you choose to take the next step necessary to make your “Big Dream” come true.

In the meantime, please feel free to peruse “The Archives” to see how far this humbled beginner has come by faith since January 1, 2007.  As many of you know, I didn’t “choose to write this book.” Over 10 years ago, this thought-provoking, 272 page book chose me.   If I can beat the odds with God’s help and choose to “keep risin’ to my feet after every fall I survived,” you can do the same.  The choice to do so will always be yours alone to make. So choose wisely.

“But by grace still go I.”

The Prologue — “Always Expect The Unexpected”

Quick question. Did reading the Prologue to Steppin’ Out Of the Darkness inspire you to sit up in your seat and say “Hmmmm” upon first glance?  Hopefully, what you found has peaked your curiosity about what else you’ll find beneath this book’s cover.

When time permits, post a comment to let me know if you felt inspired you to “finish writing the vision” you prematurely abandoned in the “valley of sun-dried bones” sometime “after the fall” you survived.

Copyright © 2007-2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

On November 5, 2007, I asked a question to my fellow bloggers that arose during the final editing phase of Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness. The question posed,

“When does a girl become a woman?”

Marva, author of Opinionated Black Woman and Woman To Woman, responded by writing a post worth reading. As a gesture of my gratitude to MarvalusOne for taking the time to answer my question, I’ve decided to spread some link love by sharing her reply.

Click on “Sunday’s Thoughts On Tuesday: Womanhood” to read her reply. I hope you enjoy reading her post as much as I did. If time permits, please leave her a comment.

Thank you, for helping to spread some love on Good Friday, a day when Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on an old rugged cross in order do what had never been done.  Because He lives, ….

Copyright (c) 2007-2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

B.M.A.D.™ in 2008 is an acronym for “Bloggers Making A Difference™ In 2008.” For new visitors, I birthed this blog January 1, 2007. Since then, I’ve learned so much from many of you about the art of blogging. In the process of reading your insightful, informative, and thought-provoking posts, I’ve learned much about myself. I look forward to doing the same this year with your help, prayers, and support.

Personal growth is always a painful process. Nevertheless, I’m a better person because you have chosen to love me despite my imperfections and great weaknesses. Hopefully, I’ve learned from the mistakes I made during my first year of blogging. If not, check me. Better to be wounded by a friend than to be kissed by an enemy.

As we begin yet another journey together, I want to ask each of you to think about what you plan to accomplish with your blogs in 2008? Knowing your purpose as a blogger will gift you with a deeper understanding of how you can improve your blogs and increase traffic to your sites?

How can you use your writing skills and your blogs to make a difference in the lives of the people you will meet “for the first time” this year? How can you use an activity that I still consider a privilege to inspire, empower, and encourage the readers who visit your blogs or subscribe to your blogs?

Let’s challenge one another to do something this year that will compel the whole world to sit up and pay attention to what bloggers have to say in 2008 to make a difference in the lives of our blended, extended family members. Let’s challenge one another to actively participate in the making and the shaping of our ever-evolving history.

What can we do to focus more attention on the ordinary, everyday people I call “unsung heroes and sheroes?” How many people do you know who have the “courage to teach” the next generation of leaders? What person’s courageous “act of faith” has had the most impact on your life? What teacher or mentor challenged to you to do more than you ever thought possible? Who still inspires you, encourages you, empowers you and loves you unconditionally?

Since Change is inevitable, I challenge myself and all my peers in the blogosphere to “B.M.A.D™ In 2008″ before it’s too late to save the next generation of leaders who are destined to become great. Are you willing to do more than you ever thought possible? I hope so.

Copyright © 2008 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights reserved.

It’s no secret that Christian marriages are still failing at an alarming rate. Why? I honestly don’t know. But today’s provocative post about love, sex, and relationships will present a few questions about the monogamous relationship Adam shared with Eve to provoke thought. Like many of you, my heart’s desire is to make love work, maintain an intimate, healthy relationship with my wife so that our marriage will last till death parts our paths.

I, too, am still searching for a few answers in a proactive attempt to help our generation break the generational cycle of divorce that’s destroying our families. Doing the reading and research required to prepare for the “Women Of The Bible” series revealed something that I’d like to share with you today. I’m still searching the Scriptures found in Genesis 2 and 3 to discover specific details about the health of the intimate relationship Adam “allegedly” shared with Eve while living in the Garden of Eden.

Since Eden means, “place of pleasure,” here’s a perfect man and a perfect woman that God made for each other who had it all. Adam and Eve had a legitimate “marriage made in Heaven,” a sanctified, sexual relationship that was holy, ordained, and blessed by God.

According to the Scriptures, the Master Potter deliberately, and with premeditation, tailor-made a woman for Adam and nobody else. Since God created Adam, it’s safe to assume that Adam was perfect in every way before his great fall from grace.

Since our Creator doesn’t make any mistakes, one can only imagine how beautiful, how blessed, and how alluring Eve must have been to Adam. Adam had the perfect partner to share his life with for all of eternity. Imagine how much Adam must have loved and adored Eve. Since God created Eve while Adam slept, this woman literally became this man’s “dream come true.”

But what about Eve? Here’s where this epic love story gets interesting because some traditional, long-standing assumptions have been made about the first family’s divinely ordained marriage. Has anybody else out there in the blogosphere ever ponder the possibility that Eve never felt the same way about Adam?

Nowhere in the Scriptures does it ever say that Eve “loved” Adam. But don’t take my word for it, take a look for yourself and tell me what you find. Can it be that Eve just wasn’t that into Adam? Maybe Adam didn’t “fit the profile,” didn’t “measure up,” didn’t meet her expectations.

Ladies, how would you describe the man of your dreams, the man you’d ask God to tailor make just for you if given the opportunity? Only God and Eve know if Adam was tall, dark, and handsome, if he had a six pack, if he was a good hunter, if he could sing a love song like Luther Vandross. But what if Adam wasn’t all that Eve expected from the man of her dreams?

If Eve was just as enamored, infatuated, and as in love with her ideal man as Adam was with his ideal woman, how in the world did the “original down low brother” manage to get her undivided attention? Maybe Adam didn’t satisfy Eve, didn’t listen when she talked, didn’t know how to communicate with her. Maybe Adam didn’t have what it takes to make the heavens and the earth move when they made love together.

Maybe Eve “felt” lonely, bored, and had grown tired of living a mundane existence with a nice man, a good man, a predictable man who never made her cry, never gave her any drama. Did Eve need Adam as much as he needed her since it wasn’t good for a man to be alone? If Adam was indeed the perfect man for Eve, how did some charismatic snake in the grass manage to successfully seduce his woman?

What empty promises did the father of lies proffer to distract Eve while Adam was “allegedly” standing right beside his woman? Had Adam become so emotionally disconnected from Eve that he didn’t know Satan found a way to get his hedonistic, misogynistic hooks into her? Do you ever wonder if Eve cried out to her man for help or ask the question, “Adam, where are you?” because Adam was missing in action?

Why didn’t Adam intervene, do what real men do, and kick Satan to the curb before a bad thing could happen to these good people? Before God created Eve, did something go terribly wrong with Adam? Maybe Adam had issues that didn’t get revealed until it was too late to reconcile their intimate relationship with God. Have you ever pondered the possibility that Satan had also attempted to seduce and deceive Adam before God created Eve to be her husband’s helpmate?

Do you ever wonder what prompted to God say that it wasn’t good for a man to be alone? Did Adam develop some type of pathological, dysfunctional behavior because he walked alone in the garden of earthly delights long enough to become too lonely for his own good? I wonder why God never said the same thing in the Scriptures about a woman. Do you?

What did Satan say, or do, that Adam didn’t say or do? What were the persuasive, albeit deceptive, words that flowed out of the perverted mouth of this fallen, false angel of light that convinced Eve to “doubt” God’s words in the first place? Did Satan convince Eve that Adam “wasn’t good enough” for her? Can it be that Eve didn’t appreciate Adam, wasn’t content with the perfect man God created, and secretly desired a “bad boy,” “a gangsta,” a “street thug” that she could hate to love for more than one night?

Quick question. How many married people do you personally know who are living with a person they secretly hate to love? Can it be that sharing a love that’s worth receiving and giving is an act of faith that a person chooses to do without ever expecting anything in return. I wonder if God is the only one who loves a cheerful giver? Think about it until the next time we meet.

– To Be Continued –

Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

“Dear Mr. President,” by Pink, is one of those rare music videos that stirs the soul as it tugs at our hearts. Matters not if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. Click on the highlighted words “Dear Mr. President” to watch Pink’s video.

Pink, our “politically corrected” leaders could learn a lot from you if only they’d slow their roll and listen to the voice of reason. It’s a shame the mainstream media, radio stations, and television stations refuse play a song that’s filled with so much relevancy, honesty, and truth.

Kudos to Mr. Jimmy Kimmel for letting Pink perform “Dear Mr. President” on his show.

Pink, as a sign of respect, I tip my hat to you for having the courage, the compassion, the empathy to write such a powerful, insightful, thought-provoking song for such a season as this.

Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

It always amazes me to see how many people manage to find time to attend funerals but can’t manage to find time to spend with family, friends, and loved one while they’re still alive. Take the time today to tell somebody how much you love and appreciate them.

Due to a critically ill family member whose body is succumbing to cancer, Kwiz and I will be taking a temporary leave of absence for an unspecified period. During my absence, please feel free to peruse the archives to see the post you may have missed.

I apologize to my blended, extended family members for failing to complete last month’s thought-provoking study of the 52 women featured in the book Women Of The Bible. There are numerous posts that were written but never published publicly relating to our women’s series that may get posted during my absence. I hope you can forgive me.

For my current subscribers and members of galvanized group of great people, I hope you will continue to ensure that the women in our culturally diverse community will still feel safe and secure in your presence.

It’s still not too late for any new visitors, subscribers, and members to submit the title of a book written by and about women that inspired, encouraged, and empowered you for inclusion in our Bookstore. Please visit the post As A Sign Of Respect to submit your book title.

As many of you already know, I dedicated the entire month of May to women and the issues relevant to the wise “women of substance” in our lives. Since there are always two sides to every story, I’m dedicating the entire month of June to men and the issues relevant to the “real men of character” in our lives.

With much love and respect,

Manchild

Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.