My testimony & the 2011 New Hope Summer revival

Wednesday through Friday night of this week, my church has had a revival and I feel moved to talk about it. The title of the sermon on Wednesday was "Their eyes were watching God", Thursday's sermon title was "Waiting without worrying" and tonight's sermon was titled, "I got the victory".

All three nights dealt with 2 Chronicles chapter 20. In this chapter, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah learned that 3 nations(the Moabites, the Ammonites, and others beside the Amonites) were coming against him to battle him. After finding out about this, Jehoshaphat gathered all the people of Judah in the house of the Lord to fast and to pray together to ask the Lord what they needed to do in the midst of this impending battle.

After they prayed and waited on God, the spirit of the Lord fell upon Jahaziel, and the Lord spoke through Jahaziel, "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not your's, but God's." In verse 17, still speaking through Jahaziel, God says, "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you."

The words alone from the Bible are enough to make me happy about the power of God, but the preacher spiritually set the church on fire Wednesday through Friday, and by Friday night, a few were slain in the Spirit. I know I'm not doing this revival justice because the true power and gift of God's word was being in the sanctuary listening to this revival. One point that really stuck in my head from tonight's message was an anecdote. The preacher talked about a new phone system in his church and on the phones, there's a button labeled "ICM callback". Whenever the preacher calls another line in another office of the church and that line is busy, all he has to do is press "ICM callback" and the phone will keep calling that line until there's an answer. Bringing it around to us and God, whenever we pray to God and we don't get an answer to our prayers, we can keep praying until we get an answer from Him.

Now, on to my testimony. In 1995, my dad passed. There are 2 reasons I had to smile at his funeral. One, he had the chance to see me go to college, and two, some of the last words I said to him was, "I love you." To this day, I still think about him, but I've been blessed to have good men in my church and the father of a best friend, to be in my life, and these are men that I love and respect like a father.

Then, in 1997, I was in a single car collision (that I caused) that was so bad that you couldn't tell the front of the car from the back of the car. I was knocked unconscious and life-flighted to a nearby hospital. After I awoke hours later, the doctor told me that I came to the hospital looking like I had been scalped by an Indian. I really had been busted till the white meat in my head was showing. But by the grace of God, and the prayers of many family members and friends, I'm alive and I'm smiling.

There's also been 2 occasions where my mom has been in the hospital for a serious medical issue. The last time was a couple of months ago, and it was so bad that she actually said to me, "I don't want to live anymore." These aren't words you want to hear from anyone you love, but the first thing I did on this occasion is the same thing I've done in most situations I'm not equipped to handle, I prayed(hard). And just like every other situation, God came through with an answer, and I'm happy to say that my mom is back on her feet, and doing almost all of the same things she was doing before. Driving is the only thing she isn't doing yet, and that's only because I want her to take her time before she starts again.

I say all of this to say that when I was growing up, I used to watch the people in the church clap their hands, shout, cry, dance, or run up and down the aisles, and I would wonder, "What got into them?". After all the things I've been through and everything I've seen, I've changed my tune. Nowadays, I look at the people who are sitting in church stone silent, and I wonder, "Maybe the word hasn't hit them like it's hitting everybody else, and maybe they haven't been given a reason to praise God yet." But all I know is that after all the reasons I've been given to praise God, I want to share my testimony just to let you know that He's still performing miracles on a daily basis.

How to get ANY man you want

Ladies, I'm no dating or relationship expert, but I just learned something startling and quite possibly earth shattering, that you all need to know. But first, a little disclaimer...

To my fellow brothers in arms...I am not about to break any part of the man code, but what I am doing is revealing truth to bring about understanding. The more understanding there is between men and women, the chance for drama becomes less likely.

With that said, ladies there is but one rule and one rule only that you need to know and use in order to get any and I mean ANY man that you want:

SET STANDARDS AND LIVE BY THEM!

Wait, now sit down...breathe, and take a minute to let that sink in. This is the great "secret" in order to get the man of your dreams. When I say standards, I'm talking about your rules, your principles, and everything you will accept and the things you refuse to live without. Now for the single women who say that they already do this yet are still "man-less", there's one of two reasons why.

The first reason you'd still be "man-less" is because you concede your standards. For the women who want a man to open doors for them, pull out their chair for them, and pay for at least the first real date(and bowling and McDonald's isn't really a date), then you have every right to demand these as standards for yourself. So the first thing you need to do with your standard is tell your girlfriend. Once you do that, tell your men friends, and then tell the next guy you meet, and then the next guy, and tell everyone that you know until you've told everyone your standards. But if you go out with a man that doesn't pay for the date, you've yielded one of your standards. If you go out with a man that walks out in front of you and then lets the door almost hit you because he's not holding it for you, then you're not living up to your own standards. STOP IT!

I'll be honest ladies...I'm writing this for one reason and one reason alone. I called a woman who has a standard that she doesn't accept calls from men after dark, and here's the kicker...I respect her wishes because it's the standard that she set from the beginning. Now I don't expect anything from this woman except conversation and maybe an option for a future date, but she has a personal rule that any man she talks to has to follow or else she doesn't talk to him. Ladies, it's that simple! If you want a man to treat you a certain way, then accept nothing less than that treatment and you will get it! Don't bend, don't give in, and don't break because when you do, you will be treated however the man chooses to treat you. Not only this, but I can honestly say that if you allow a man to break your rules, the man will lose a little bit of respect for you and won't respect any future rules you try to make.

This is the way to get any man that you want ladies, but there's one other reason that you might be "man-less". The more specific you are with your standards, the more unspecified the time will be before you get what you want. In other words, if you want a tall, light skinned man with six pack abs, and a six figure savings account who drives a BMW 745 and has at least one vacation home, you can get this man. The only thing is that you'll have to be willing to take the time for a man like this to be available to come to you. That's the last thing I want to say ladies. Don't chase us, we'll chase you because if you're chasing us and we're not stopping...it's either because we're not interested or you're breaking your standards. Either way, stop hunting and just become the hunted, but be the hunted that keeps standards.

An introduction to me and the truck people

My name is Garrett Rogers and for better or worse, the blogs you read here will be about me and my life. For those interested in political, religious, or social commentary, I strongly recommend www.brotherspeak.com which is an online black mens' magazine that I hope to soon turn into a national print magazine. You can also find insightful blogs on www.myspace.com/brotherspeak and inspirational quotes at www.twitter.com/brotherspeak. Here, you will mostly find thoughts that most "normal" people would never admit to. I'm fine with that because I'm not afraid to admit that I love putting the "I can't believe you just did that" face on my fiancee.

"The greatest strength is found in complete and naked openness." I just made that up and since I can't agree more with myself, I'll be open. I just turned 33, I work at a job that I can't wait to quit, but I won't until I start making good money from Brotherspeak...so consider this a message to you to go to www.brotherspeak.com and buy as much as you can from the ads there(seriously). I want to change the world for the better because I feel it's what we're all supposed to do and because so many people have helped to change me for the better. I have a beautiful and understanding fiancee, two teenage daughters, and one teenage son, and I live for the times when I can do for them exactly what my parents did for me...give them something better than what I had.

I love football. I love it so much that even as a die hard Cowboys fan, I can tell you something good and something terrible about all 32 NFL teams. I have a love/hate relationship with the playoffs because even though some of the best games are played in the postseason, I also know that it won't be long before there's the Super Bowl and then there's a five month stretch of no football. I watch an occasional college football game, but I don't keep up with the college games like I do with the NFL because I wouldn't have time for anything else if I did. I still like watching the WWE even though it's "fake"...what the wrestlers do still require some athleticism and a tolerance for pain. I like watching basketball after football season so at least I still get a sports fix. I've also started getting interested in UFC and mixed martial arts in general because even though it's a violent and bloody sport, I respect the men and women that are passionate enough about their chosen field to step into a cage and beat the mess out of their opponent.

I drive a Honda Civic that's in the shop right now because of transmission failure. I knew I had to take it to the shop because as much as I can now brag about still having a good mood in spite of having to drive 30 m.p.h. everywhere or having to completely turn the car off and restarting it every other block just to make it to the next block, I could only take driving back roads instead of the highway for just so long. So I rented a car...scratch that...I rented a Dodge Ram. I don't know what it is about a truck, but driving one will change you. As soon as I got behind the wheel, I had to hit the horn, and I didn't hear one of those "please move sir or m'aam" type wimpy horns. I heard a "GET OUT THE WAY OR I WILL STEAM ROLL YOU" horns. The next thing I had to do was push every button and find out what every thing did. My next urge was to go off-roading or drive through a shallow river like they do in the truck commercials. For some strange reason, my fiancee wasn't completely thrilled about me telling her what I wanted to do...women. Climbing into the cab of my Dodge Ram makes me feel stronger, more manly, and it makes me feel like I should be on the range stopping a stampede and roping steers, but as my son so kindly reminded me, "You have to take it back next week."

So there you have it...here's me the nut, in a nutshell. I know this first blog was like three blogs in one, but you just got three for the price of one...I'm all about value! Since you're here, follow www.rareblacpearl.blogspot.com. That's my fiancee's blog, and I hope everybody has a wonderful and safe thanksgiving and I really want to find the car that's in this picture!