He's Good to us

Hello, my name is Jasper and I'm a quad. Although right now I'm in a wheelchair, I know the Lord is still blessing me. Yesterday I went to a Tiger's baseball game. It was a beautiful day, I was with good friends, and I really enjoyed being part of the crowd. I liked watching people laugh, have fun, and enjoy themselves, especially the kids. They got a real kick out of the music that they play! This Sunday after church I'll be going to my high school reunion. Seeing old friends that I grew up with (we all went to school together) and after 40 or 50 years we're still friends. That in itself is a blessing from God. When He puts people in your life they are there for a reason. Sometimes they are there for only a season, then sometimes they stick with you through the years no matter what they watch you go through. Everyone does not have a blessing such as this. But I thank the Lord for having favor with me. I just go about my day and I appreciate the things the Lord has put in my life. Beautiful sunny days I can look upon, I'm always surrounded by good people that care about me. The Lord always gives people what they need. I'm in a wheelchair, I don't work, I don't have much money, but I live in a nice place, I'm fed every day, and I have clothes on my back. It's not my doing but it is my God's grace. So I encourage you to open your eyes and look around at the wonderful gifts that God has given you. Appreciate them. Goodbye, my name is Jasper.

Give Thanks

Hello my name is Jasper and I'm a quad. At the Neurocenter where I live they have different activities to keep the clients entertained and stimulated. We do such things as go on outings (I just came back from an outing to Belle Isle). I've gone to baseball games, the Opera, concerts, and parties. This Sunday I am going to a church picnic and it's usually lots of people and lots of fun. Here at the facility where I live I just came in from viewing some antique cars. They were beautiful! All decked out in different colors- Corvettes, Charger, Cobra, Nova, and a '63 Chevy Impala. The point I'm trying to make is even though I'm confined to a wheelchair God still allows me to enjoy life just as anyone else does. It's a beautiful day today. I can go out, feel the sun on my face, feel the warm breeze in the air, smell the flowers, and just partake in this wonderful life that the Lord has given me. I take the advice that my pastor gives us and that is I don't look at my circumstance, I don't dwell on the negative, and I look at life as a gift from God. I call those things that are not as though they were. I choose to praise God and thank Him for just allowing me to be here. Sometimes we don't have to have something great happening in our lives to give praise to the Lord. Sometimes praise Him for just being here. Praise Him for the little things- being able to see your grandchildren, being able to see friends from your school, being able to be around good positive people. These are all blessings from the Lord. Think about it- everyone may not have what you have, so appreciate it and give thanks. May God bless you and may God keep you. My name is Jasper and I'm a quad.

A Prayer for Detroit

Hello my name is Jasper and I'm a quad, also I'm a native of Detroit. I always enjoy growing up in Detroit. The 60s and 70s even the 80s was quit differnt it seems than today. There are so many things that have gone wrong with the management of Detroit that we've almost come to financial ruin. Along with that, people don't seem to cling together the way they used to. We have no outstanding leaders, no Coleman Youngs, no Ken Cockrels it seems that our city council can't agree on anything. I don't understand why so many of our leaders are so opposed to the city manager. We need help and if it has to come from an outside source, then so be it. If we could have handled the problem before we wouldn't be in this shape now. I believe we need someone to come in with an objective view of our situation and who has the guts to hire and fire whomever to straighten out the problem. The Kwame Kilpatrick administration did absolutely nothing to progress Detroit. Instead, he brought more negative controversy upon the city. Then there are the senseless murders that still go on in Detroit. The two men that were run down by a hit-and-run driver. There are so many kids being murdered in Detroit that you can lose count. I say all this about a city that I still love because Detroit needs prayer. As my mother often said "Prayer changes things." She would say that all the time and I knew in her heart she believed that. God said that his people have turned their backs on Him, but if they will just repent and obey his commands He would send healing throughout the land. Detroit I believe can still become a vibrant and exciting city to be in, but we have to do our part and come together as a city and we can't afford to leave God out. The churches need to stand up and be recognized. The church needs to be a voice within the city, standing on the Word of God and begin to minister and heal the land. We can no longer turn our heads away from things that are moraly wrong. We must begin to pool our resources together instead of the every man for himself mentality. I as well as my church hold a vigilant prayer for Detroit and we stand on the promise of God that He in His own time will heal our land. My name is Jasper and I'm a quad.

Vengeance is mine.

Hello, my name is Jasper and I'm a quad. I would like to give some of my opinion and express my concern about the Trayvon Martin case. When I first heard about the case I was surprised that a person of color, or any person for that matter, can be murdered on the street and nothing is done about it. It only shows that our court system is flawed. It can work for you or it can work against you, depending on the powers that be. In this particular case you have a grown man armed with a gun who was told by police not to pursue the suspect, ignored the order, and as a result shot and killed an unarmed kid. This was not a man fighting for his life as he claimed, but a grown man fighting a kid. To me it doesn't matter what the race may be, this was a gross miscarriage of justice. I know that we're only human and we have emotions and feelings. When something of this nature happens to us, our first reaction may be to lash out, fight back, get vengeance. But I urge anyone reading this message that our Lord said "Vengeance is mine". He said do not hold malice in your heart for your fellow man. Pray for those who spitefully use you, forgive those who have done you wrong. The battle is not yours, and vengeance is mine. I know this may be a very difficult thing to understand but the Lord said "If ye are truly my disciple, you will heed my commands". There have been many people who have sought justice through not violence. Ghandi, Dr. King, and Malcom X, and as we all know the results were outstanding. If you are striving to live a Christian life you may be called to do a lot of things that are difficult to do, but remember the Lord said "to follow me you must first deny yourself". We don't have the luxury of doing everything we want to do, but rather follow his instructions because he is Lord. These are my thoughts, may the Lord bless you. My name is Jasper and I am a quad.

The Grace of God

Hello my name is Jasper and I'm a quad. With that being said as a quad we go through many emotional, as well as physical, changes in our lives. We often feel that our circumstances are unjust. We may even feel that God has done us a disservice. Some of us become so angry and bitter that it poisons us in relationships with other people. This may last for a period of time, but somewhere along the line we must remember that we are living on God's grace alone. I know for myself after being in two near fatal car crashes, going through a life of drugs, being a womanizer in the streets, sleeping with many women I did not know, and as a child surviving polio. All of which I realize today had it been not for God my life may have been much different. I could have been a cripple, I could have HIV or AIDS, I could have lost my life doing drugs, and I could have died in both those car crashes, but God's grace is sufficient and he allowed me to survive. We must understand that there are so many things that can ruin our lives, or even destroy us, but with God's grace we manage to make it through. Often times not even thinking it's Him, but of our own will. I see people everyday that their bodies are so disfigured or so paralyzed that they cannot move at all, or even speak at all. I know I am living on God's grace because I'm not one of those people. I can talk, I can think, I can communicate and express my concerns to other people, I can turn my head from left to right (which may seem like a small thing but I assure you if you could not do it it would become a big thing), and it's only because of the grace of God because in my last car crash I broke my neck in more than one place. So remember, the next time you may give yourself a pity party or you feel out of sorts because of things you can no longer do just remember- if you're able to wake up in the morning, know your name, and be able to count to ten, you're living on God's grace.

Thank you, my name is Jasper and I'm a quad.

Your Comfort Zone

Hello, my name is Jasper and I'm a quad in a rehab setting. We all have a comfort zone of some sort. It may be at a job, working at home, anywhere you've been doing something for a long time and you've gotten used to it. We are creatures of habit and sometimes it gets very hard to branch out and do something different. But, I believe that the Lord moves us according to His purpose. He knows just how to pull you away from your comfort zone. I believe he only does it to teach us and to elevate us to a higher level. Recently, I was called upon to do a workshop at the upcoming convention of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I have been very nervous about doing this workshop because I know I'll have to speak in front of a group of people. I am concerned about what I will say, I don't want to be boring, and I don't want it to be too short. But, I know deep down inside, the Lord just wants to pull me out of my comfort zone. Doing this talk will take me to a new level, it will only strengthen me with my people skills. So, I think the only thing I can do is pray about it and step up and do the best I can. I believe that the Lord would not ask me to do this unless He has me prepared. I won't worry about it. I'll just step up and do it. So, remember, if you are ever called upon to do something that may seem difficult for you, think of this, the Lord is just taking you out of your comfort zone to enhance you and to lift you up to a higher level.
Hello, my name is Jasper and these are my thoughts, be blessed.

Family and Friends

Hello my name is Jasper and I am a quad. Just recently my best friend who happens to be a minister invited me to come and hear him preach. I was glad to hear from him and anytime I can I'm glad to go and hear him. He preached a very good sermon about the love of God. He comes from a very large family and coming up has a kid I pretty much grew up with him and his family. At the preaching event a lot of his family was there. Most of them haven't seen me in a long time because of my accident. I was the type of guy who liked to visit a lot so I saw them on a regular basis, but not so much anymore. As he spoke about the love of God, I began to think about how blessed I was to be there to see a lot of my old friends. We all used to run in the streets together. We used to party together, go to card games together, and cabaret together. This went on some 30-35 maybe 40 years ago. Just think we used to be in the world together, now we're all in the house of the Lord together. After all these years to be in the world then serve the Lord together a lot of people don't have that. You know when you get serious about serving the Lord, a lot of people shy away from you. You lose people, but I felt truly blessed that here were a lot of my friends serving the Lord with me. So think about this little story the next time you have an opportunity to be in church with an old friend or even a family member. It's truly a blessing from God to be able to think back where you were 20-30 years ago and see where you are now. God bless you and may God keep you and your loved ones. Again my name is Jasper.