Don’t forget, Sunday begins our first 7daybuzz.com WWJD 7 day challenge! 

WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) 7 day challenge is going to challenge your conscious, strengthen your spirit, and call you to a new level of Christianity!  Join us Sunday for all the details and an exciting invitation to share with us your 7 journey as you ask yourself time and time again, What Would Jesus Do in this same situation!  I’m in!  Are you?  I’ll be there sharing my stories and experiences.  I look forward to hearing from you too!

As many of you may know, for the first time Kim and I are about to become parents.  I think we would both agree, this is something we have been looking forward to for quite some time and are taking this new responsibility seriously.

I know Kim will have a special bond with our daughter because that is something nature builds into this whole process.  But I know and feel that special something that has me joyous on the inside – a feeling which is new and somewhat expected at the same time.

At 7daybuzz, we try to be just what the name implies: a place that talks about the buzz 7 days a week.  We have been blessed to write about relevant issues both of a serious nature and sometime not so serious.  During this special time I must stay true to our format and refrain from making this all about the addition to my family.  For that reason, I would like to tell you about Proud2parent.

I’m approaching this life change with pride and I have some things I want to share from a father’s perspective.  Not only do I want to share what (very) little I know and will learn along the way, I want interaction with other parents, both fathers and mothers, so I can learn along the way.

Today is a special day at Proud2parent and I hope you will go and check it out.  Let’s get real, most men (the men I know at least) want a son and I was no different.  I may have wanted a little boy, but God said no and our destiny was a little girl.  If you look at the site, you may understand what I’m talking about more.

Before the thought comes to your mind, I’m not going anywhere and 7daybuzz will continue to grow (come on, help us) and improve.  We are going to bring it to you everyday, a guarantee Proud2parent doesn’t necessarily have.  Similarly to how the baby will be an addition to our family, the new site is an addition to our family here at 7daybuzz.

I will see you there…and here.

I was talking to a friend today and she mentioned that last week, while she was at the hair salon, a conversation began that centered on women who waitress.  Now, my friend lives in Las Vegas, commonly known as sin city or better known for the slogan, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’  Anyway, my friend said that one of the ladies’ in the salon stated that casino waitresses make between $80,000 and $130,000 per year.  This revelation began a barrage of comments from the other women in the salon.  Some women said that waitresses are really nothing more than prostitutes.  Other women said that it didn’t matter how much money a waitress made, it wasn’t worth it because the waitresses had to put up with drunken men, touching them inappropriately.  One woman said, she wouldn’t mind drunken men touching her if she was making $80,000 a year!  A few women said they wouldn’t do it because they didn’t have the personality for it and if a man made unwanted advances toward them or touched them inappropriately, they (the women) would be putting their hands on the men, but not in a pleasurable manner.  Lastly, some women said they wouldn’t do it because their husbands would not approve.

Just to see what the average waitress salary really is, I Google ‘average waitress salary.’  According to http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Waitress, as of July 23, 2008, the average waitress salary is $37,000.  Based on this, one can only surmise that the originator of the conversation in the Las Vegas salon did not know what she was talking about or Las Vegas is the exception to the average waitress salary.  In any case, just for argument’s sake, let’s  pretend that waitresses actually do make $80,000 per year.

By now, you may be wondering how this relates to your daughter.  Here’s how:  if your daughter told you she was working as a waitress, without revealing her salary, how would you feel?  Would you be happy for her or would you want better for her?  You know how parents like to brag on their children — would you brag about your daughter working as a waitress?  Now, let’s kick this up a notch.  Let’s just say you were not happy with your daughter working as a waitress and you told her as much.  But then, she informed you that her yearly salary was, at a minimum, $80,000 per year.  Would your opinions change?  If you were not bragging about her career choice before, would you start to brag about it?  Let me ask you this last question:  what would you teach your daughter about career choices?  Would you tell her that reputation is better than the amount of money she makes per year OR would you tell her money is the most important thing –it doesn’t matter how it is earned?

I ask these questions because next month, my daughter will be born and I know how I feel about this – I don’t think I would be able to accept it if my daughter chose to work as a waitress.  Not that there’s anything wrong waitressing IF it’s done to help put oneself through college.  But as a career choice?  I can’t wrap my mind around that concept.  Yes, I understand that the minimum salary is $80,000 per year, but still.  It just doesn’t sit well with me — at least not as a career choice.  Anyway, maybe I’m way off base on my thinking.  Let me know your thoughts on this subject.  It should be very interesting……

1.  We must forgive our debtors
Matt. 6:12, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

2.  Forgiving others is an absolute necessity.
Matt. 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

3.  Jesus says we must forgive often.
Matt. 18:21, 22. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “ I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
Luke 17:3, 4. “So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him, If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven     times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent, forgive him.

4.  The parable of the unmerciful servant shows how sinful it is not to forgive; God sends judgment on this sin.

5.  Put away bitterness and anger; forgive as God forgives.
Eph. 4:31, 32. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

6.  Be imitators of God.
Eph. 5:1, 2. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

7.  The father of the prodigal son forgave him and accepted him as completely as if he had not sinned. This father represents God. Thus Jesus reveals how God treats repentant sinners.  Luke 15:20-24

8.  Jesus commands us to forgive others.
Mark 11:25. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him.  So that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

9.  Love keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Cor. 13:4,5. Love…keeps no record of wrongs.

10.  Love (overlooks) a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8. Above all. Love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

11.  Restore with gentleness one who has fallen into sin.
Gal. 6:1.   Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

12.  Paul tells us we must forgive and restore one who has sinned against us.  2 Cor. 2:5-11.

13.  Forgive a repentant sinner and affirm your love.
2 Cor. 2:7,8.  Now, instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.

May the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless, keep, strengthen, and heal YOU today is my prayer for you.

Pastor Harold E. Sawyer Sr.

You go across the country and there is a lot of respect for Donovan McNabb.  He has been the leader of the Philadelphia Eagles since 1998 and the Eagles has been one of the best organizations in the NFL ever since.  McNabb has always handled himself with grace and always seem to have exceptional poise in almost every situation.  The only thing that he has not done for the Eagles is win a Super Bowl, something that has caused him grief in the one place where McNabb does not have considerable respect.  That place is Philadelphia.

The city of Philadelphia is one of truly sports-crazed cities in this country.  No city loves their sports or their teams more than Philadelphia.  This does not mean that they show their teams love at all times.  In fact, quite the opposite is true in Philadelphia, where their fans are known to be some of, if not the toughest in all of the country.  No team in Philadelphia gets as much tough love as the Eagles and the person who has been at the center of it all in the last decade has been Donovan McNabb.

One could argue that McNabb’s opening minutes, as a Philadelphia Eagle were the most difficult of any since he has been in the league.  The Eagle fans booed when McNabb was the #2 pick in the 1999 draft for the Eagles.  They wanted the Eagles to draft Ricky Williams and McNabb was determined to make those who booed him eat their words.  After a rookie season that saw him become the first rookie to start at quarterback for the Eagles in almost a decade, McNabb led the Eagles to the playoffs for the first time since 1996 and was the MVP runner-up (to Marshall Faulk) in the Associate Press voting.  The next season, McNabb became the fourth Eagle quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons and led the Eagles to their first NFC Championship Game since 1980 before they lost to the St. Louis Rams.  In 2002, McNabb broke his leg in week 11 and somehow made it back for the playoffs and again, led them to the NFC Championship Game, this time losing to Tampa Bay in Philadelphia.

You would think that resurrecting the Eagle franchise would be enough to give him the proper respect around the league, but this was not the case.  Early in the 2003 season, Rush Limbaugh, then a commentator on ESPN, said that Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.  Again, McNabb led the Eagles to a third consecutive NFC Championship Game, but the Eagles lost again and thus McNabb became the first quarterback to lose three consecutive NFC Championship Games since Danny White (1980-82).  McNabb’s name began to be associated with the word, “choke” but most observers agreed that McNabb had the worst group of wide receivers in the league – this and most everything else was about to change.

The Eagles improved their wide receivers considerably with one move that brought Terrell Owens to the Eagles.  McNabb and the Eagles took off with this one move.  McNabb became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 or more touchdowns (31), have less than 10 interceptions (8) and led the Eagles to a 13-3 record, their best ever in a 16-game period.  This time when the Eagles made their fourth consecutive NFC Championship Game, the Eagles won, and McNabb finally got his Super Bowl berth.  Unfortunately, the Eagles lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl and the blame went to McNabb, but the craziness had just started.

The next season, Owens wanted more money and suddenly, he and McNabb, were at odds.  The story was the most popular in the league and led to Owens being suspended; McNabb got hurt for the season and the Eagles missed the playoffs.  Owens was let go, McNabb took the most responsibility again and even the Eagles made the playoffs – the Eagle fans had again turned their back on the man who had been at the center of the Eagles’ success in the last decade.  With all of his success, his detractors only point to his inability to win the Super Bowl and thus, McNabb could be in his last season as an Eagle.  This indeed would look bad to most, but would probably be ideal for Eagle fans, who have seemed to sour on McNabb, which is quite frankly a sad ordeal.

Text messaging, or texting is the common term for the sending of “short” (160 characters or fewer, including spaces) text messages from mobile phones using the Short Message Service (SMS). It is available on most digital mobile phones and some personal digital assistants with on-board wireless telecommunications. The individual messages which are sent are called text messages or, more colloquially, texts.

I got the above from Wikipedia just in case the term was new to someone.  I didn’t really think it would be because texting is all over the place now, but I want to make sure we know what we are talking about.  It is talked about on TV ads, in schools, at work and most importantly with your cell provider.

Speaking of cell providers, make sure you know how many text messages are included in your plan before you get carried away.  Text messaging can become addictive fast and the cell providers will hit you over the head with a hefty bill if you go over your alloted amount per month.

I found a site which gives you texting shorthand.  Did you know that texting “8″ means oral sex?  Calling all parents!  Calling all parents!  You better get  clue as to what the most current lingo is today.  There is a lot more to this than just OMG (That stands for oh my God).  I think it would be in your best interest to know what some of these criptic text messages really mean.

To say text messaging is popular would be an understatement.  According to the December 2005 article “Life and Romance in 160 Characters or Less” About 7.3 billion text messages are sent within the United States every month, up from 2.9 billion a month a year ago, according to CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade group. After Hurricane Katrina knocked out or overloaded communications systems, one of the only ways to reach lost relatives and friends was through text messaging, which transmits in sturdy little bursts of data that can often make it through even when voice lines are snarled.

My friend’s daughter was sending 4,000 – yes I meant to put that comma and three zeroes – text messages a month!  Needless to say he had to get unlimited texts or he would be going broke fast.  It would seem nearly impossible to send that many messages in one month, but I actually saw her in action for myself.  She has a phone with a slide out keyboard, but let’s just say if there were a professional texting league she would be the scoring champion/MVP.  She can go one-handed, two-handed and probably behind the back without skipping a beat.

Is texting enough in terms of an adequate communication medium or do things get lost when shortening up to 160 characters or less?  I’m of the opinion that there is a time and place for everything including text messaging.  Similar to emails, texting is another way to sty connected and communicate although some would probably argue this technology dumbs us down and is impersonal.  I don’t know the answer for sure, but I do know that if over a billion served indicates success for McDonald’s, texting became successful many years ago!

Let me start this post off by saying that what I’m about to write proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that America has become a litigious country.  I know this has been said before and the court TV shows (e.g. People’s Court, Judge Mathis, Judge Judy, Divorce Court, etc.) only add credence to this statement.  But the content of this post takes the grand prize for — well, I’ll let you decide what the grand prize is.  Okay, here goes:

According to the Grand Rapids Press, Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, of Michigan, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan Publishers and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.  Fowler is suing these two major Christian publishers because he believes they are violating his constitutional rights, in addition to causing him emotional pain, by publishing Bible versions that refer to homosexuality as a sin.  Fowler states that both Zondervan and Thomas Nelson manipulated their King James Bibles, without informing the public, by using the term ‘homosexuals’ in the scripture 1 Corinthians 6:9.

Fowler alleges that because of these publisher’s Bibles references to homosexuality as a sin, he has become an outcast to his family.  In addition, Fowler believes these Bible references have contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.”

What’s interesting about this lawsuit is that in some versions of the King James Bible, the word ‘homosexual’ is not used, but sexual immorality is.  So, what this lawsuit may result in is the Supreme Court having to step in to translate the bible to decide what the phrase “sexual immorality” actually means.  If this happens, we’re in a lot of trouble.  A lot of trouble!

Something else that’s interesting about this case is that the Judge refuses to appoint an attorney to represent Fowler because the Judge feels that the Court “has some very genuine concerns about the nature of efficacy of these claims.”  Fowler is looking to be compensated for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability.  Here’s the USAToday article that reports on the lawsuit: http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-07-09-gay-bible_N.htm

Other than hoping that Fowler screws up his defense while defending himself, I’m really at a loss here for words.  What are your thoughts on this lawsuit?

7daybuzz.com is announcing our first 7daybuzz challenge!  We’re calling all Christians, non-Christians, black, white, young, old, rich, poor, etc.!  We’re calling everybody to come and take part in our 7daybuzz.com, WWJD, 7 day challenge!

Let me slow down.  For those of you not familiar with the acronym WWJD let me spell it out, what that stands for is a simple question:  What Would Jesus Do?  I’m sure many of you are familiar with this phrase as it rose to popularity some years back.  You could go into stores and buy WWJD jewelry, bandanas, t-shirts, rubber bands, etc.  It swept the country!  And it was good!  However, as with most new things, it has since faded into the background.  In my opinion, it shouldn’t have.  Every Christian should constantly ask ourselves, WWJD?  And live accordingly, but we don’t do we?  But let’s try!

This week is the unveiling of our challenge and next Sunday we will begin!  All challenges worth participating in, take some time and preparation.  You have 7 Days!  Converting our minds to the mind of our Lord and Jesus Christ isn’t easy for me and probably not you.  Let’s be honest, we live life in a mode to do all we can to satisfy our selves/our flesh.  And that is not bad all the time and in every circumstance, but many times, it is not Christianly.  Let’s see if we can’t remove ourselves from the equation and make Jesus front and center in all of our thoughts, actions, reactions, deeds, etc. for 7 Days.  One week.  168 hours.  10080 minutes.  Can we do it?  The bottom line is, if we actually lived that way on a day-to-day basis, how different would we be?  I believe Jesus would be pleased with us if we made this a practice in all that we do.

So here are the fours steps of training for the 7daybuzz.com WWJD 7 day challenge.  For the next 7 days:

1. Pray a prayer asking for the reformation of your mind.
2. Read your bible as a way to begin taking on the mind, attitude, and spirit of Jesus.
3. Declare yourself a challenge winner and conqueror!
4. Pray.

This challenge won’t cost you.  This challenge won’t hurt you. (well maybe your pride if you have to turn the other cheek or something flesh defying as Jesus would do!)  I can truthfully say, if done properly, the only thing this challenge can do, and will do, is make you more conscious of who you are and Whose you are.  This might be just the thing you need and I need to expose us to us!  We really don’t know who we are.  Fact:  we never see ourselves the same way others see us!  Maybe living this lifestyle for 7 Days (hopefully it will be one we will choose to adopt forever) will close the gap between who we think we are, and who we really are.  The goal of this challenge is simply to ignite our conscious of doing the right thing and being the best we can be.  The objective is to learn/grow from each other by sharing our experiences.  So starting today, let’s do this!  Tell everybody you know what you are preparing to do and invite them to join in the 7daybuzz.com WWJD 7 Day challenge!

I’m excited!  I hope you are too!

According to Wikipedia: Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people instead of professional actors.[citation needed] Although the genre has existed in some form or another since the early years of television, the term reality television is most commonly used to describe programs of this genre produced since 2000. Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as news and sports shows are usually not classified as reality shows.

In my opinion, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor started what we currently know as reality TV. There were other shows like Cops that could easily fit into this genre, but Millionaire and Survivor are what really got people talking and watching. There was a time, like many other Americans, when I knew the reality TV schedule by heart. I knew the station and time of my favorite shows and adjusted my schedule accordingly. Even though it wasn’t the same as a fictional show or movie, reality TV served as an escape – there is something inviting about watching real people risk life and limb for money. We just seem to get a kick out of watching human interactions go bad on national TV.

In some cases, the people on reality TV seem to be normal people like you and I. They have the same problems, jobs and family issues we all do. I just seem to have a problem with the casting department for many of these shows and I will gladly (you knew this was coming) tell you why.

If you leave your house right now and randomly select 12-20 individuals will the demographics of those people always be the same or similar? I would think not. That being the case, why do these groups always have 1-3 minorities, one homosexual individual and at least two females that someone seems to think are attractive? I know it is all about attracting the most diverse group of viewers, but sometimes it just seems stupid to me. Will I stop watching if nobody black is on the show? Probably not. Is is realistic to have one homosexual in almost every group? I don’t think so. Do I need what someone else considers eye candy to tune in every week? Not at all. Hey casting directors, get it together and find an interesting group of people without trying to meet your quota.

Besides your typical cast, these shows have lost some of their luster and it could be because they almost seem to be staged. Take the Real World for example. During the latest reunion show, the cast mentioned how much of what the show revealed wasn’t real and certain situations were taken out of context. Hello! The editors are the real creators of this show. They get raw/real footage and make it interesting. I think that defeats the purpose and is kind of manipulating. Something else revealed during the Real World reunion were the procedures necessary to go out and about. Apparently, if they want to go someplace, an animal shelter was mentioned, the show’s producers must get it cleared. So the exact situation goes something like this: one of the cast members was an alcoholic and they couldn’t go to an animal shelter, but they could go to many bars. This cast member eventually left the show because the environment wasn’t healthy for his ongoing treatment. Ya think?

These shows have become so popular to the point of network throwing virtually anything on TV as long as it is a reality show. I literally just finished watching a show where contestants compete with their dogs. The show is called Greatest American Dog and it airs on CBS. Hey, I will do anything once and the show was actually cute considering there wasn’t anything else on to watch. This show did run my wife right out of the room though!

In your opinion, have these reality shows become over-used and irritating? Many of them should never even make it to network television, but I guess they figure anything could catch on and get those advertisers spending money. I say enough is enough. Oh, but I need you to leave Survivor, Big Brother, Real World, The Amazing Race, So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol alone. Seriously.

Here we go again!  I guess you could say the other shoe dropped with Jesse Jackson.  Some media outlets are calling him messy Jesse and this description seems to fit the former presidential hopeful lately.

Apparently saying “I would like to cut his nuts off” wasn’t all Jesse said concerning Barack Obama.  Apparently, Jesse also said “Barack…he’s talking down to black people…telling n–s how to behave.”  Yes, Jesse used the N word also, which is hopefully the nail in his coffin as a public figure.  What exactly is it that Jackson does that benefits anyone?  I really don’t know how relevant he really is anymore – that is assuming he ever really was relevant in the past.

At this point he has become an embarassment to people of all colors and someone who needs to stay out of the limelight as much as possible.  Doesn’t he have a child he could be raising?  I know that is a low blow, but it is still true.

The most obvious reason for Jesse’s actions seem to be pure jealousy.  He had his time to shine and it just didn’t work out for him – we would have been a laughing stock to the rest of the world if he was elected.  So, since he didn’t advance as far as Obama, he is apparently going to do what he can to hurt his campaign.  He sure is drinking those 40-ounce bottles of Haterade!  How many of us actually believe he didn’t know the mic was on?  It seems rather suspicious given the amount of time he has spent behind a mic and camera.

Jackson’s main problem with Obama is what he (Obama) says or doesn’t say about issues which affect African-American people (there is that term again).  There is a fine line between discussing race issues and continuing the cycle by repeatedly throwing up the race card.  If he is smart, and I think he is, Obama realizes this and acts accordingly.  We really have to do something to get past race issues and I don’t think past actions will work.

You can say what you want, but if elected Obama will have to be the President of the United States not the president of the black people of the United States.  At some point he has to push forward with a message of equality and address other issues affecting us all.  Harping on issues primarily dealing with African-Americans will get him nowhere.

Here is the question:

1. Does Jesse have a point and Obama isn’t discussing minority issues enough?
2. Is Jackson totally off base and Obama is doing as he should?
3. Do you think this has been brewing within Jesse for some time now and he finally went public on purpose or inadvertantly?

Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

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