From the Pulpit: “I Did My Best” Faithful Central Bible Church

f we were poor, we didn’t know it. My parents were both hard working church folk in E. St. Louis, Illinois; often working multiple jobs to raise and educate three children. My mother used to clean white people’s houses while keeping her own house immaculate. On more than one occasion, often after Christmas, a birthday, or some special occasion I would hear my dad say to my mother, “Well, Ba, I did my best.” This coming from a man who I always knew as a faithful follower of Jesus and on whose tombstone in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, I had etched these very words: “I did my best.” As I look back, the honor of being your pastor for over half of my life, I echo the words of my father, George Washington, Jr: “I did my best.”

I do this, cautiously echoing words of Paul the Apostle who wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy and declared in rapid riveting revelations: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…” I struggled as I felt the Lord drawing me over and over again with his majestic magnet to this text. I felt Paul might be a bit arrogant, speaking with veiled boastful pats on his own back. However, the more I tried to skip the tug and pull of the text, I began to hear Paul’s heart more than his words.

Paul was speaking with the mindset I often felt when I was in school and the teacher would say, after a test “Okay, class, now grade your own papers.” It was not only a display of the trust in our integrity that the teacher held, but it was a chance to assess our own progress, retention, and success (or lack thereof) in absorbing our assignments and academic challenges.

I particularly remember evaluating an exam and coming to the last question, and with a sigh, saying, “I did pretty good.” Such might have been the case as Paul reviewed his call, stewardship, and life of Kingdom service.

The second reason I hesitated to venture into the tenor and tone of this text was that it most often is heard at funerals! After all, Paul says “the time of my departure is at hand.” Now, in full disclosure the word for departure can refer to departing this life. And many historians interpret Paul’s words in this text as a reference to his anticipation of his own death.

On the other hand, the same word for departure is used as a nautical term referring to a boat being loosed from its moorings, or from the dock to set sail. The same word is also used in a military context to describe soldiers who have been camped at a particular place and now they break camp in order to continue to the next battlefield.

For 41 years, the cables of my commitment have been secured to this Family of Champions. For over half of my life, this has been my military home base from which I have been “on the battlefield for my Lord.” But the key

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Antioch Church of Long Beach

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Senior Pastor Wayne Chaney, Jr.

Online Services is the word “time”, the time of my departure has come.

It is time in the sense of the Eugene Peterson’s contemporary interpretation of Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6. “There is an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth… a right time to hold on and another to let go.” This is the right time for me to loosen the boat of my life from the dock of this pulpit, the right time to break camp, this military foxhole from which I have fought so many spiritual battles; the right time to let go of the weight of leading this family of champions.

But — if it’s the right time, why is it so hard? I got some help with this from my friend and brother, Pastor James Meeks, who recently retired as founding pastor of the great Salem Baptist Church of Chicago. Pastor Meeks says it’s hard because the bond between pastor and people is a unique God-given, holy bond in the Spirit. It is a bond that is other worldly. Unimaginable in the natural, but unbreakable in the Spirit. Pastor Meeks said it’s because the pastor is there at the critical moments of the life of those who walk by faith. He said we were together at the time of spiritual birth, with you in the divine delivery room where you came forth from darkness into the marvelous light. Often with you as you went through many dangers, toils, and snares.

If not walking with you, cheering you on, agonizing with you, praying for you, then holding one hand while you held with the other; holding on to God’s unchanging hand. Trying to strengthen you so you don’t fall, yet standing with you when you slip and stumble and can’t stand by yourself, bellowing at you when you do fall: “get up, don’t stay down there, you’re better than that; you’re stronger than that. You can do it.” There reminding you when you tended to forget, “my God shall supply all your needs” reminding you, “trouble won’t last always” reminding you, after He has tried you, you shall come forth as gold — you’re gonna make it, you’re coming out of this mess. It ain’t over til God says it’s over.

Over and over God has had to remind me that the call on this house is to “build champions for divine deployment”. God didn’t bring you here to stay. You were just a pilgrim traveling through this barren land, and the Family of Campions was a stop along the highway to heaven.

But then Paul takes it to another level. We don’t know anything about Timothy’s natural father except that he was Greek. But Paul was his spiritual father. For 41 years the Lord has given me spiritual sons and daughters.

My persistent prayer and plea to the Lord was that I would never do anything to make you ashamed to call me your pastor. Just as I was often snatched from the claws of ungodliness for fear of embarrassing or shaming my own son and my daughters and granddaughters and my grandson, I wanted to walk before you as spiri-

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Mothers of Murdered Youth/Children: Thurs by Appt.; (B.U.S) Blankets, Underwear, Shoes: Thursdays Facebook Live•YouTube•Free Conf Call tual father.

Then Paul paints an unusual picture of their relationship. Not only was he like a father, but in Galatians 4:19, he compares the relationship to one of a mother and her children. In Galatians 4:19, He says, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”

His focus is not so much on the picture of a mother but on the pain of labor. The word that he uses never refers to the physical moment of delivery; but the word highlights the accompanying anguish; the pain, the labor before the birth. He says I continue to have labor pains until Christ is formed in you.

It is not so much the labor pain of bringing forth the child, but it is the return of the pains of labor — continually — while and until Christ is formed in them…

Paul says I went through this once when you were born, but the goal is not just to be born, but to be born again; and when you are born again you are launched into a lifelong process of becoming like Jesus.

It’s a picture of the pain he goes through when he sees them struggling to mature in their faith and not just become like Jesus, but to let Jesus be formed in you. Not just act like Jesus, but let Jesus act through you. Not just love like Jesus, but let Jesus love through you. And even when you are abused, mistreated, broken hearted, and when you suffer, you are not just to treat them like Jesus, but let the resurrected Jesus rise up and bring you back. I go into labor pains because I know you are going to come through.

Finally, Paul tells us it is goodbye because he’s been like them. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7 “But we were gentle among as a nurse cherisheth her chil

Some versions say, “like a nursing her children”, but the construction of the sentence places the emphasis on the func tion of a nurse, tenderly caring for a child. Remember that Paul’s most common reference to himself is “servant”. When you put the servant picture with the nurse picture, you are reminded of the slaves who not only nursed the children of the master, but how they gently and sensi tively raised children that continued to page 20

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CalHFA continued from page 6

Previous beneficiaries of the program are now eligible for additional funds that could add up to $80,000 in total aid. Officials say the program is meant for those who have had trouble keeping up with housing payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding for the California Mortgage relief program comes from the Federal Government’s American Rescue Plan Act’s Homeowners Assistance Fund implemented in 2021, which allocated $1 billion for eligible homeowners across the country.

According to Hall, the program has distributed federal grants and funds to over 10,000 California homeowners.

Not only is applying to the program free, she says, homeowners do not have to worry about paying back the relief funds.

The program is provided to homeowners through the CalHFA Homeowner Relief Corporation. During the press conference held in the first week of Black History Month, Hall made a point to mention that those who tend to struggle with homeownership in California and the nation at large are Black.

"Black communities have been shut out of homeownership by a variety of factors including discriminatory housing practices which equates to less generational wealth," said Hall.

Homeownership is an incredibly important tool in building generational wealth, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Volma Volcy, Founder and Ex- ecutive Director of the Ring of Democracy, said it is important to secure the prosperity of neighborhoods where residents are at risk for foreclosure.

"When a family is displaced, a whole community is destroyed," said Volcy.

Volcy also said that the California Mortgage Relief Program has been successful so far in providing aid for those in fear of losing their homes due to pandemic- related financial hardships.

Visit the California Mortgage Relief website to assess your eligibility and apply for the program.

Relief is expected sooner than later as natural gas prices have dropped significantly from the sky high rates on your most recent bills. In the meantime, SoCalGas recommends the following tips to reduce your natural gas bill: was on duty the day of Malcolm X's death, wrote that he "participated in actions that in hindsight were deplorable and detrimental to the advancement of my own black people. often mistreated and mishandled little white girl, she said: “You is kiiind. You is smaaart. You is impo-ent.” She reminded the little girl, no matter how mean the world gets, you is kind.

"Under the direction of my handlers, I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts," Wood wrote.

"We intend to have vigorous litigation of this matter, to have discovery, to be able to take depositions of the individuals who are still alive, 58 years later, to make sure that some measure of justice can be given to Malcolm X's daughters," Crump continued, adding, "The truth of what happened and who was involved has always been critical."

I tried to remind you that no matter what history the media and world may tell you, you are God’s child, filled with the Spirit of the Living God. No matter what that mean teacher or misguided school counselor, or false-friend-hater who said you can’t do this and you can’t do that — I say — “you is smaaaart”. And no matter who tried to put you down and tell you that you aren’t good enough, no matter who tried to kick you to the curb, smash your self-confidence, and shatter your dreams, I’m just like Aibileen and I shout it from the roof top — “you is impo-ent”

• Lowering your thermostat three to five degrees to save up to 10 percent

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• Washing clothes in cold water to save up to 10 percent on water heating costs.

It is the picture of a servant nurse.

Family members involved in the action include four of his six daughters–Ilyasah, Qubilah, Gamilah and Malaak Shabazz – along with the daughter of a fifth daughter, Malikah Shabazz who died in 2021. Said Crump, "The rhetorical question is this: if the government compensated the two gentlemen that were wrongfully convicted for the assassination of Malcolm X with tens of millions of dollars, then what is to be the compensation for the daughters who suffered the most ” federal and New York government agencies, including the NYPD, FBI and CIA has long been contested," Crump said. "The governmental agencies had factual and exculpatory evidence that they fraudulently concealed from the family of Malcolm X and the men wrongly convicted of crimes surrounding the assassination of Malcolm X."

Three of Malcolm X’s daughters have pointed to a deathbed letter written by former police officer Raymond Wood on Jan. 25, 2011. In the letter, Wood, who

Over and over God has had to remind me: you are not my people, you are His people, I am just a steward, a “spiritual nurse”–kind of like Viola Davis’ [character] Aibileen in “The Help”.

She was a servant who took care of the master’s children. She was always gentle. In fact, when she taught the

In that last scene when Aibileen is about to leave, with tears in her eyes, she said: “I got’s to go now. But remember you is kind; you is smart; and you is important.” And she left that little girl in the hands of her mother.

When I arrived at the University of Illinois as a freshman, my parents helped me unpack and get settled in my room, and then it was time for them to go. My mother stood outside Hopkins Hall with tears in her eyes and said, “Well son, mama’s got to go now; but mama’s gonna leave you in the hands of the Lord.”

Well, Faithful Central Bible Church, its time. I’ve got to go, but I’m going to leave you in the hands of the Lord. His hands can hold you. His hands can keep you from falling. His hands can pick you up when you fall. His hands can lead you to victory.