For those of you who have been consistently reading this blog since January 1, 2007, you know that blogging was an “act of faith” for an ex-perfectionist like me.  Like many of you, I am a fallen, imperfect person. I, too, have good intentions. But I’ve also got some bad habits and some great weaknesses.  Sometime my Big Dreams don’t cooperate.  So we probably have a lot more in common than you think.

During the past four years, you chose to love me, to challenge me, to encourage me, to pray for me anyway. And for that, I will always and forever be grateful.  Although we’ve never met face-to-face, I still love you more than you could ever imagine.  Your love lifted me out of the ashes of obscurity.

You’ve graciously endured my many mistakes during my humble beginnings.  You’ve watched me fail publicly, stumble badly, and fall flat on my face.  Yet and still, so many of you refused to give up on me.  You’ve made my private victories possible.  By choice, you became my “champions.”  So many of you loved me unconditionally and encouraged me despite my many shotcomings.  Because of your love, I kept getting up, showing up, and challenging you to take the next step towards making your own Big Dreams come true.

To this day, your love, your private words of encouragement, your comments still inspire me to keep blogging and doing what I love to do — write.  I hope and pray that all the culturally diverse members of our galvanized community will choose to “keep loving to love one another” as we share our thoughts and ideas. So please don’t stop challenging the rest of our blended, extended family members to keep risin’ to our feet after every fall our gifted souls survive until the day we can all stand side-by-side and meet the greatness of God’s faithfulness.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” ~ Proverbs 27:6 NASB

Together, I honestly believe those of us to whom “little” appears given really can make a difference in the lives of the children who will become the next generation of leaders.  Do you? I hope so. Remember, upon first glance, looks can be deceiving. As always, the choice to dig deeper so you can climber higher than you thought was possible is still yours alone to make.  I believe in you.  But do you believe in yourself? Gee, why not? Think about it.

“But by grace still go I”

Copyright © 2011 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

“Ideas are not truly alive if they remain locked in a single mind. Our need to transfer them to others focuses us to consider why and where we want them to go, and how we want them to get there.” — Henry M. Boettinger

Are you someone who has a brilliant idea, a vision, but still doesn’t know how to effectively present your “intellectual property” to the millions of fallen, imperfect people you hope and pray will benefit from your “Big Dream?” Are you an “introvert?” Does the thought of public speaking buckle your knees? Here’s something to think about. Why not sit down and write a book?  Gee, why not? Think about it.

C’mon Manchild! You’re kidding right? Me, write a book. I’m not qualified to write a book worth reading. I don’t have a Ph.D, nor do I have a Masters degree. Why I didn’t even go to college. I barely graduated from high school. Besides, I don’t even know where to begin writing a book that anybody would honestly believe is worth reading.

I hear you.  But despite the excuses you’ve raised, do it anyway. Difficult? Most definitely! Impossible? Not!

Why not start writing your book, your daily column, your magazine article, your screen play, or your stage play today, right here, right now?  Writer’s block huh? Fear of Failure huh? Maybe you’re not hungry enough yet.  Maybe you still don’t think you have what it takes to excel and succeed as a writer, huh?  That’s okay.  I’ll still love you anyway.  In the meantime, here’s something to think about that, hopefully, will challenge you to overcome your Moses complex.

Remember what Moses told God when the Most High called him into a position of leadership and challenged him to confront Pharoh? Did you hear his fear of Failure? How do you respond to the challenges that show up to test your faith in God and yourself?  How will you ever know what’s possible if you never try to do the impossible? Hmmmm. You have nothing to lose but your fears and inhibitions and everything to gain. Besides, who told you that you couldn’t write a book worth reading? probably the same people who told me to give up and walk away from my Big Dream.

Had I listened to the skeptics, cynics, and pundits who kept telling me “no, never, impossible, and can’t,” I’d still be singing the “woulda, coulda, shoulda blues.” My faith in God and myself would have never been tested. But I refused to let those to whom much appears given tie me up in the “nots.” Are you still tied up in the “nots” because you simple refuse to honestly believe you can achieve your Big Dream(s)?

If I could beat impossible odds with God’s help and finish writing the vision that has evolved over the past 10+ years into Come Morning, you can do the same. But you must honestly believe it’s possible for a humbled beginner like you to do so. Because my faith in God and myself has been severely tested over the past 10 years, I can honestly say that I can trust God today absent any reservations whatsoever. I honestly believe that nothing is impossible to God. Do you? Gee, why not?

After the great fall I survived, I refused to believe “the greatest lie ever told and sold.”  Ridicule and Rejection haunted me daily.   Setbacks and Failure stalked me relentlessly.  Nevertheless, I kept getting up, showing up, and doing what it would take to make my Big Dream come true.

Why? I believed in me because God created me to do something nobody else would choose to do.  I refused to remain hopelessly lost in a deceptive spiritual darkness so thick that it makes one too many talented people too sick to care whether they lived or died.  It’s what Adversity taught me, not what Success bought me, that inspired me write Come Morning.

Okay. Okay.  I got it Manchild.  Look, I’m a busy person.  Gotta chase that cheese before it moves again.  I’ve got places to go and people to see despite all the frozen snow that’s still covering the city.  So what’s  the real reason why writers write?

“Love.”  Surprised? Don’t be. How many of you still think “Money” is the real reason why successful writers write the books voracious readers read?  Not!  Love inspires writers to write the books that choose us because we honestly believe we do have an idea to share that will improve the human condition and make the world a better, and hopefully, a safer place to live.  God’s love inspires writers to pen the books the next generation of leaders believe are worth reading.  Love is the reason why “Talent Alone Is Not Enough™” to achieve “Greatness.”

Successfully writing the ever evolving book that chose me challenged me to share in the light what I learned in the dark about achieving Greatness has changed my life forever.  God always does the unexpected when we least expect it.  Why? Our Father loves fallen, imperfect people like us with good intentions, bad habits, and great weaknesses like ours.

In closing, do you know what Greatness is and where it begins? How would you choose to define Greatness if given the opportunity to so for the next generation of servant leaders? For those of you who don’t know, please check out “Can Greatness Be Measured.”

Copyright © 2008-2011 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

When was the last time you picked up a book containing an idea so powerful that it challenged you to think differently, to see yourself differently, to live differently, to love differently, to lead differently? Do you still find yourself repeating the same self-defeating habits this year that you developed last year to justify your fear of Failure and Success?  As Dr. Phil McGraw would say, “How’s that working for ya?” If the truth be told, probably not very well.

Facing your fears and embracing Change will challenge you to replace your old habits with new ones.  I’ve heard Mr. Steve Harvey and others say, “If you want something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.”  Reading thought-provoking books that challenge you to pick up a dictionary will present divergent thinkers with ample opportunities to encounter ideas so powerful they can move mountains. Imagine that!

When time permits, I will post a series of brief excerpts from Come Morning for you to explore.  In case you don’t have a dictionary handy, just click on the links provided.  Don’t be afraid to dig deep. Ask questions. Take notes.  Start a journal if you’d like.  Yes, “reflective reading” is required. So please take your time and enjoy the journey. Doing so will reward you and enrich your reading of Come Morning in ways you’ve never anticipated.  Hopefully, you’ll discover the “novel idea whose time and season has finally come.” Since there’s always a first time for everything, expect the unexpected to happen when least expected.

By opening this book, your hands will unleash the catalyst that produces the paradigm shift responsible for setting a force in motion that can move mountains. Upon first glance, what may appear to be nothing but “creative chaos” will give you a reason to hope. Reading the text will challenge you to raise your level of thinking. Your heightened awareness will unearth the “forgotten dreams” buried beneath the “abandoned visions” still cluttering the “valley of sun-dried bones.” Your new perspective will bless your gifted soul with meaningful access to what can enable you to decode the source of your deepest fears – the truth. — Excerpt from “The Prologue”

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 KJV

Copyright © 2007-2010 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.

COME MORNING, an inspirational story about personal leadership, will inspire you to believe it’s possible to achieve your Big Dream when nobody else does.  The optimistic attitude of an innocent child too young to know what lies ahead inspires a defeated man who has lost his passion to dream, to write, to live.

The protagonist of this provocative love story stops believing the truth that fallen, imperfect people like him with good intentions, bad habits, and great weaknesses like his can “rise to the level of excellence every Big Dream demands.”

Discover how to negate the “seeds of self-hatred” and how to nullify “the greatest lie ever told” and sold for a profit.  Before you stumble badly and bump heads with Adversity, Failure, Setback, and Poverty, find out why the term “self-esteem” is really a verb instead of a noun.

See why the next generation of leaders chooses to cultivate a “culture of civility” so women, children, and the elderly can begin to feel safe and secure within the comfort of their own skin.

Reading this compelling story about “a novel idea whose time and season has finally come” will give you a reason to believe in yourself again, to love loving you again, to remain hopeful until your morning comes.

When life happens and Adversity strikes, COME MORNING will inspire you to “keep rising to your feet after every great fall you survive until your eyes meet the greatness of God’s faithfulness.”

Copyright © 2010 by Roderick O. Solomon.  All Rights Reserved.

Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness is no longer available for purchase.

Here’s a thumbs up from North Carolina about Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness.

“It has been years since a piece of literature has evoked such thought and inspiration in me so to you…I am grateful. After completing the book, I was eager to share this with everyone I know. I let one of my family’s long term friends (a pastor) read the book. She was so moved that she decided to focus a few of her bible study and sunday school lessons around your work. This is truly a labor of love that has been well worth it.” –Ms. Dywanna Sheridan

Copyright © 2007-2009 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.

“Somewhere between the yawn of yesterday and the early morning dew that signals the dawn of a new day, …” — Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness

Quick question. As the creative, imaginative person that you are, how would you choose to write the familiar phrase “Once upon a time, …” in order to leave a lasting impression on the minds of your readers?

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

If you live in or near Atlanta, Georgia, please come out to meet Manchild this Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at the 3rd Annual AJC Decatur Book Festival. Manchild, whose real name is Roderick O. Solomon, is scheduled to begin reading from Steppin’ Out Of The Darkness at 3:00 p.m.

Immediately after leaving the Pavilion Stage, Solomon is also scheduled to start signing this introspective, inspirational story about “personal leadership” at 3:20 p.m. Click on Atlanta Journal Constitution for driving directions and additional information about the Decatur Book Festival 2008.

Approximately 75,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Labor Day Weekend event.  If you’re an Atlanta-based blogger, please stop by and introduce yourself.

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

This post contains a challenge to die hard basketball fans to see how many of you with a “Basketball Jones” can watch this creative basketball commercial just once. For those of you who have never seen this Nike commercial, it’s extremely addictive.

Unless you’re immune to “March Madness,” click on the highlighted word “Nike” at your own risk. Be forewarned! My wife, KWiz, and my 3-year old daughter couldn’t watch this classic commercial just once. Let me know whether or not you enjoyed something I decided to post just for the fun of it.