We can be trapped in a stagnant mindset and die without ever moving forward or we can change our minds.
“When he came to his senses, he said… ‘here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you’” (Luke 15:17:18 NIV).
“The Power of a Changed Mind”
When I was a child growing up on a sharecropping farm, all I could see around me was long rows of cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco. It felt like sharecropping might be my destiny in life. Then my oldest sister, Helena, against all odds, enrolled in college in Durham (NCC, now NCCU), graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, and became a high school librarian. So, I changed my mind about being trapped in sharecropping. In time, I enrolled at NCCU, graduated and began teaching at Hillside High in Durham. Still, I could not see beyond that.
Then Helena’s husband, Lonnie, earned a master’s degree, and moved from the classroom to the principal’s office. His example helped me change my mind about only being in the classroom. I went back to school, worked hard to earn a master’s degree, became an assistant principal, and later, a principal in Montgomery County, Maryland.
This time I thought I had really reached my ceiling and should just be content. But when my pastor, Bishop Alfred Owens, Jr., began stressing the importance of pursuing higher education and also set the example for us through his own educational pursuits and accomplishments, I changed my mind. I went back to school and earned a doctoral degree in ministry (D.Min.)
I could go on and share other examples, like the book I was inspired to write after years of procrastination, Standing on the Promises (2025), the one I am currently writing on gospel music (not titled yet), or being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Pastor John P. Kee (2026), and the God-inspired nonprofit, Children’s Trauma Awareness and Support Organization (CTASO), that my wife, Betty and I are leading with an amazing board of directors.
The stagnant mindset of the prodigal son left him malnourished, working on a pig farm, feeding swine. All he could see around him was pigs eating and wallowing in the mud. He became so hungry that he was about to eat pig food. But in that defining moment, he came to himself, changed his mind and went from the pig pen to the palace, from rags to riches!
There is so much more you and I can do by simply changing our minds. The devil said, “You Can’t!” But God said, “You can!” If the enemy has you trapped in a mindset of stagnation, change your mind! Pursue it! Earn it! Build it! Write it! Go for it!
Focus Quote: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 NIV).
