The Last Time Dad Combed My Hair

I remember the first time I got braids; it took me a long time to get into wearing weaves. I was one of those children blessed with long hair, and as an adolescent I wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing a weave. (I remember when wearing weaves were “un-cool”.) So when I had my braids there was one essential thing that I did not know, and that was making sure you combed all of the synthetic hair out before you wash it. For those of you that do not know, when you don’t comb out the synthetic hair all the way, before you wash it, the synthetic hair gets tangled up with your real hair, forming knots so complex that the great escapologist Harry Houdini would not be able to free himself from.


So if you could all just picture this scene. A 5’8” 19 year old young woman looking at half her hair tangled up in five massive knots. After 30 minutes of trying to no avail, I did what any respectable young woman would do in my predicament, I called for my mother. My mother walked into the bathroom, took one look at my hair and replied, “Well I don’t know what you want me to do with that.”

“Mom, help me.” I cried pitifully. (At this point I was fighting back tears.)

My mother sighed and began to hack at one knot with a comb. (My mother was never known for being gentle with a comb and brush.) After about a grand total of two minutes of getting absolutely nowhere, she simply handed me back the comb and shrugged her shoulders and told me it looked as if I was going to cut my hair.


*Cue tears accompanied with hysterical sobbing fit……………NOW*


“CUT MY HAIR?!?”

“It’ll grow back.” She replied.

Cutting my hair would have meant cutting off a good 8 to 10 inches, leaving me about 2 to 3 inches of hair. It was now 1am mom was tired and was going to bed, leaving her grown daughter to fend for herself. I slowly walked out the bathroom utterly defeated. I walked into the TV room to tell my dad that I was going to have to cut my hair off. I could only imagine how pitiful I looked standing there with tears running down my cheeks telling him that I would have to cut off all my precious hair. My dad just sighed turned off the TV, told me sit down, took the comb from my hand and began to do what no one else could or would do, straighten out my mess. I bet it was a sight to see. Me sitting there crying as he gently untangled those knots, one hair at a time, it took him three hours. I can’t tell you what we talked about, I don’t remember him saying one word, and I don’t recall me saying anything. All I remember is my father bent over my head the concentration of a skilled surgeon removing every strand of synthetic hair out of my head. That and the big thankful bear hug I gave him afterward.

Sometimes in life we look at what other people are doing what they have and we want those things just because it’s popular to have. We don’t appreciate the things that God has given us and we look to add material things, synthetic things to our lives, instead of being grateful for the blessings that are in our lives right now. And because we mix man's ideas with God's purpose our lives are in chaos. Oh but the great thing about our Heavenly Father, he can clean any mess, straighten out the crooked path, and mend any broken heart. All you have to do is ask.

(Psa 34:18 KJV) The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

The All Natural Opiate

One of my favorite movies is Devil’s Advocate and that is because it had to be the most accurate depiction of the devil ever. Al Pacino plays a marvelous devil. There were many great scenes in the movie, but one of my favorite moments is when satan revealed which sins of his was the favorite.


“Vanity is definitely my favorite sin…it’s so basic, self love, the all natural opiate.”

I love that line because its an absolutely brilliant description of what pride, vanity, self love, etc, does, and that is it dulls the perception of pain that you inflict upon others and yourself.

Opiates are any of the narcotics found in the opium poppy plant. How opiates work in the brain is they don’t block the pain messages, they change the subjective experience of the pain. This is why a person receiving morphine for pain may say that they still feel the pain but that it doesn’t bother them anymore.

When someone is full of self love, self importance, they can know that their actions are wrong. Know that they are hurting others, know they are going to wrong way, and still do it because they value themselves more so then what is right.

That is how a cheating husband can come home to a crying wife with lipstick on the collar.

That is how a mother can be knowingly be involved with a man that is abusing her children.

That is how a preacher can get up and minister to a congregation knowing he just smashed the church secretary in the office.

That is how a drug dealer can sale poison to his neighbors.

That is how a politician can pass a bill that he knows is going to throw the country into ruin.

That is why this world is in the mess that it is in today.

We live in a world today where anything goes, and that everyone is beautiful and perfect.  We encourage vanity, self love.  Now on the surface it sounds great, you should love yourself.  But when in reality the bible teaches us that the greatest commandments is to love God with all our hearts, mind, body, and soul.  And then we are suppose to love our neighbor as ourselves.   Love requires more than lip service.  Love requires action, because love will compel you to act upon it. 

The Unloved

This blog here is based off of a sermon that I had to preach awhile back when I had to cover for my dad because he was out of town. It is my prayer that you will find this a blessing.


In the bible, in the 29th chapter of Genesis, there is a story about two sisters, Leah and Rachel. Rachel was beautiful, and loved by all, while Leah was saddled with a lazy eye on top of being plain. (Gen 29:17).

Now in the story a man had come along and wanted to marry Rachel, but he had no money for a dowry So this man (Jacob) struck a deal with Laban (Leah and Rachel's father). The deal was Jacob was to work seven years for Laban, and Jacob agreed. "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." (Gen 29:20)

Now the custom back then was when a man and woman got married, that whole day and night the woman was not suppose to say one word because the man was suppose to have one night of peace. So when Jacob awoke the next morning he was unpleasantly surprised to find the woman he had married and bedded was not Rachel, but her older and slightly unattractive sister, Leah. Needless to say Jacob was upset.

When Jacob confronted Laban, Laban informed Jacob that in their country the younger did not marry before the elder. Laban also told Jacob that he could have Rachel as well. All Jacob had to do was fulfill Leah's week (which is like a honeymoon, sort of) and then he could marry Rachel. But Jacob was going to have to work another seven years. (Gen 29:27)

Now here we have a woman who was not attractive, nor was she well favored. A woman who was used by her father, and mistreated by her husband. "...and he loved Rachel more than Leah," (Gen. 29:30)

So let me ask you all a question. How many of you have felt unappreciated, unwanted, unpopular, or unloved? Some of you may be in an even worse situation than Leah was. But let me point something out to everyone.

"And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren." (Gen 29:31)

When man curses you, God will bless you.

Now to some people this may not be a blessing, but to Leah it was. When you read verses 32-34, you will note that after the birth of each of Leah's first three sons, Leah kept saying, "...now therefore my husband will love me." (Gen 29:32)

Can you imagine the heartache that this woman felt? I can only imagine this woman doing everything that she possibly could to please her husband. She knew she was never the favorite, or the most popular, nor was she pretty. She had a husband that hated her, and a sister that was at war with her. And a father for of his own selfish reasons, set her up to be abused for the rest of her life.

I can see Leah lying in bed one night, crying her eyes out. Then all of the sudden she comes to her senses. Leah probably sat up strait, wiped the tears from her eyes, and said to herself,

"I can't change how I look, I can't change how people look at me, and I can't make that man love me. But I can change what I say about myself!"

So when her fourth son came along she named him Judah, and after she named him she said, "Now will I praise the LORD." And from that time on Leah said she was blessed:

And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.(Gen 30:13)

Now the bible never says that Jacob treated her any better, as a matter of fact, he treated her the same. (Gen. 33:1-2)

But there is one more thing that I want to point out to everyone. We know that Jacob's 12 sons make up the 12 tribes of Israel to this day. But what most people fail to notice is that the two most essential tribes came from the woman, who was hated, the tribes of Levi and Judah. Levi's tribe is the priesthood; and Judah, well one of Judah's descendants is thee most famous person of all time.....Jesus Christ.

That is right the woman who was not the prettiest, nor was she the favorite. God used a woman that was deformed, abused, misused, and despised.

You can be cursed by man, but know that God has blessed you. You may not be the prettiest, but realize that you were created in God's image. You may not be the smartest but understand that God will use the foolish things to confound the wise. You may not be the strongest but have the faith that God will put a hedge about you to protect you. But most importantly you must realize, understand, and have the faith to know that God has put talents, abilities, and skills down on the inside of you that can bless the world.

Did Leah know what was written in her DNA? Did she know that God was going to use her? The bible never says, but I would like to think so.

When Leah had her last child, it was a girl, and she named her Dinah. The name Dinah means vindicated.