So, I ran across a NC public school ranking article and saw that Warren County Schools was ranked 100. Although I felt some type of way, I admit and accept the challenges faced by rural, economically disadvantaged school systems. However, the condition and resources of your school cannot negate or keep one from their positive and productive destiny, unless one lets it. I am a proud product of South Warren Elementary, Warren County Middle School, and Warren County High School! In fact, these schools and teachers built me up when I was torn down as a young black male youth in a higher ranking district. I was encouraged to be smart and rise above myths, statistics, and circumstance to pursue greatness! Further, as an educator, I also got my start teaching at my Alma mater, Warren County High. The same challenges existed in Warren County when I was a teacher, but there was also great progress and innovation. Quality teaching is happening! I tell you these lessons from it all: You can be your best no matter where you are from or live and still achieve! Use your opportunities wisely. Further, don't let others' opinions frame who you become and your world! Accept the truth and the challenge, but use it to build and motivate you! You can't please everybody and numbers don't always paint a full picture! Warren County, stand up! (Oh, and parents, RAISE YOUR CHILDREN and don't leave it up to our schools alone.)
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In my last blog entry, I announced the release of my first book, The Fourth Man Principle. As I said in the prior blog, I didn't know when and how to release it. I had been waiting and consulting, rereading and revising, assessing costs, etc. Then, one day last week, I just knew it was time to release it. There was no more need to worry about the content. I had nothing else to say and I didn't want anyone to change anything. I just let the chips fall where they needed to fall and let who needed to read and hear the message read and hear. I'd lived the contents and it was time to move on. As long as I sat on the book, I knew I would still linger emotionally, mentally, and psychologically in a season that was over. It was time to finally let go of the pains, the disappointments, the exepctations, the ambitions, who I thought I was or wanted to be, that season of life. It was time to close that chapter and book, to write a new book, to live a new life, the life I've dreamed about, much of which is still unknown, but still I knew it's time... It's like when I took the NC bar exam. It was 2009 and Amira had begun declining in health. I was teaching, but getting bored and disliking my boss. I knew it was time to do something different. I studied and had taken and passed one bar exam in 2005, but the summer of 2009 everything that could happen happened. Doctors visits, family members visiting, death in the family and amongst friends, you name it! Then the day of the exam, I sat down at the table and across from me sat a familiar face, a friend that I went to law school with years ago. During lunch breaks we recounted the law and discussed the very things that ended up on the exam. I felt confident, but still this was no ordinary test and leaving the faigrounds on the last day of the test I had a flat tire, of all things! Months later, I found out I passed and I knew it was the grace and divine providence of God. Someone asked me how I did it because they had been out of law school a while and was thinking about taking the bar. I told them, I just knew it was time. Looking back, I saw that in spite of the adversity and chaos I dealt with while studying that summer, God had already orchestrated and set me up for success. So, I tell you, today, "It's time!" Get over it (whatever your "it" is)! Get it out (that idea, that project, those words)! Move forward! Don't wait any longer. Don't ignore those promptings! If you keep observing the wind, you will not sow! (Ecclesiastes 11:4) If there's a dream inside of you, do it! The life you want to live, live it! If you know there's greater, pursue it and you will find it! Let the pains and disappointments go so you can grow and fulfill what only you can fulfill. God has already appointed your provision and ordered your steps, the certain and uncertain ones. Just go! Don't be moved by the opposition you'll face, the naysayers, the limitations. It's time! It's your time! Stop reading about it and be about it! Close the book! Today marks the end of a journey that I embarked upon a few years ago. I have written my very first book! I wondered when I would finish it because I would write little pieces here and there. When people would inquire about my progress, I would answer, "I don't think I am finished living it yet." I actually finished the book some time last year, but I've been trying to figure out when and how to publish and release it. After reading T.D. Jakes' book Instinct, I finally knew and felt this is the time! I have been consulting publishing companies and connections for some time and gathering information. However, today, I just felt this was the moment to seize and share the book. The book is entitled The Fourth Man Principle and it is about dealing with personal adversity and knowing that God is with you to carry you through any test and trial you face. It's an easy read. It is autobiographical, inspirational, biblical, and practical. I discuss life challenges and what I have learned spiritually. I particularly deal with how my wife and I dealt with the loss of our precious firstborn child, Amira Elyse Kingsberry. There are a few tear-jerking pages, but don't let that stop you from buying and reading it. With every believer's story of pain, there is also victory. God has given us three more beautiful children! We thank and praise Him! I encourage you to buy this book; it will bless and encourage you to move forward in your life purpose and Kingdom assignment no matter the adversity! Go to Amazon.com and purchase your copy right now! |