Happy Thanksgiving

happy-thanksgiving

With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s important to remember to give thanks for all the many blessings from God.  May the Peace and Love of God be with you and your Family.

Through a Rapist’s Eyes!!

Worth reading to remind us of things to do and be prepared for.  It is the
holiday season and being out shopping and such, they are on the look out for
you.

Through a Rapist’s Eyes (This is No Joke !)

When this was sent to me, I was told to forward it to my lady friends, but I’m
forwarding
it to most everyone in my address book. My men friends have female friends and
this
Information is too important for them to miss.

Please pass it along…

A group of rapists and date rapists were interviewed in prison on what they look
for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are
most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other long
hairstyle that can be easily grabbed. Women with short hair are not common
targets.

2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who’s
clothing can be removed quickly . Some of them carry scissors around
specifically to cut off clothing.

3) They also look for women who are on their cell phone ,searching through their
purse, or doing other activities while walking because they can be easily caught
off guard.

4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between 5:00a.m.
and 8:30a.m.

5) The number one place women are abducted or attacked is: a grocery store
parking lot. Number two is: office parking lots/garages. Number three is: public
restrooms.

6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and
quickly move her to another location where they don’t have to worry about
getting caught.

7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence
but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.

8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it
only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn’t worth
it because it will be time-consuming and difficult.

9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas in their
hands, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance.

10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind
you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look
them in the face and ask them a question , like ‘What time is it’, or make
general small talk: ‘I can’t believe it is so cold out here,’ ‘We’re in for a
bad winter.’ Now you’ve seen their face and could identify them in a line-up;
you lose appeal as a target.

11) If someone is coming toward you , hold out your hands in front of you and
yell STOP or STAY BACK ! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they’d
leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to
fight back .
Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and
carries it with him wherever he goes) , yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY. Holding it out
toward them will be a BIG deterrent. Use it if they continue coming toward you
!!

13) If someone grabs you , you may not beat them with strength but you can by
outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the
attacker either under the Arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the
upperinner thigh VERY, VERY HARD . One woman in a class this guy taught told him
she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her. She was so
upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands – the guy needed
stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it – it
hurts!!!    If attacked from the front, hitting a man on the tip of his nose as
HARD as you can with the heel of your hand can stun or even kill the
assailant…

14) The GROIN of a man is a very weak spot. I know from a particularly
unfortunate experience that if you hit a guy’s private parts it is extremely
painful . You might think that you’ll anger the guy and make him want to hurt
you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a
woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble and run away as
he tries to recover from the pain.

15) If a guy puts his hands up to you , grab his first two fingers and bend them
back as far as possible as you push down with much force. The instructor did it
to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles
cracked audibly.

16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your
surroundings , take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior,
don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts!!! You may feel a little silly at the
time, but you’d feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.

1. A tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If
you are close enough to use it on the face, neck, body or groin, do so!

2. If a robber asks for your wallet or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM . Toss it
away from you….Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet or purse
than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD -TOWARD PEOPLE !

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights
and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like cra zy. The driver won’t
see you, but everybody else will. This has saved many lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working,
etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, powdering their nose, or making a
list, etc.) DON’T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the
perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your
head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS
AND LEAVE!!!
If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO
NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car.
Your Air Bag will save you. The other person will get the worst of the crash. As
soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find
your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage:

A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor,
and in the back seat and floor.

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door.
Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while
the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the
passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, walk
back into the mall, or work, and get a guard or policeman to walk you back out.

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS  take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible
places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at
NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The
predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times. And even then, it
most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN in a zigzag pattern!

8. Most women are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP! It may get you raped or
killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man, who
ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or
a limp, and often asked ‘for help’ into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which
is when he abducted his victims.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone said that her friend heard a crying baby on her
porch  and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was
weird. The police told her ‘Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.’
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and
she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The
policeman said, ‘We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open
the door.’ He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded
and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a
baby.

Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby —-This
should be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on
America ‘s Most Wanted when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana .

I’d like you to forward this to all the women and men that you know. It may save
a life. I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys, if you love your
mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may want to pass it onto them, as
well.  

Black Women with AIDS

By Richard Morin
Thursday, March 9, 2006; Page A02

It is one of the most puzzling mysteries of the AIDS epidemic: Why did blacks, in little more than a dozen years, become nine times as likely as whites to contract a disease once associated almost exclusively with gay white men?

Two researchers say they found the answer in an unlikely place: prison.

Blacks and AIDS
Mid-1980s
Roughly similar rates to those of whites for men and women.

TODAY
• Black men are seven times as likely as white men to develop AIDS.
• Black women are 19 times as likely as white women.

About This Column
Richard Morin is a senior editor at the Pew Research Center and former polling director at The Washington Post. For more about these and other studies, go to the Pew Research Center Web site.

Rucker C. Johnson and Steven Raphael of the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley analyzed census data and a federal database containing detailed information on about 850,000 men and women who contracted AIDS between 1982 and 1996.

They discovered that the surge in black AIDS patients — particularly women — since the early 1980s closely tracked the increase in the proportion of black men in America’s prisons, which by the 1990s had become vast reservoirs of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The percentage of prisoners who were black increased from 40 percent in 1982 to well over half in 1996, according to government data. At the same time, get-tough sentencing policies more than doubled the prison population, producing even more infected black men who passed the disease on to black women after they were released.

So powerful is the relationship between race, prison and AIDS that it almost completely explains why half of all new AIDS patients in 2002 were African Americans even though only 12 percent of the population is black; in 1982, African Americans made up less than a quarter of new AIDS cases. The link remained strong even after researchers controlled for factors associated with AIDS, including the use of crack cocaine, Raphael said.

Part of the reason for the rapid spread of AIDS among African Americans is that so many black men spend time behind bars, Johnson said. About one out of 12 black men are in jail or prison, compared with one in 100 white men; at current rates, a third of all black males born today will do time.

What explains the black-white prison gap? Raphael said the question is beyond the scope of the study, but other researchers point to poverty, a lack of opportunities, racism in the criminal justice system and the lure of the “thug life.”

Whatever the cause, the AIDS gap is not going away. Other studies suggest that half of all prisoners engage in homosexual sex. But safe-sex programs, key to controlling AIDS in the gay community, are unwelcome inside prison walls.

In fact, “it’s illegal to distribute condoms in prisons in all but one state” because lawmakers fear it would encourage gay sex, Johnson said.

Everybody got a Story– But, God got a plan

 

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

One day as I hurried through the grocery store, I ran into a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time.  “How’s the family,” I inquired.   As we greeted and hugged, he began to tell me what had been happening in his life lately.  He explained that things haven’t been going as well as he would like.  However, “God has been good,” he said.  He had just received word that his seventeen year old son was missing from his ex-wife’s home.  It hadn’t been confirmed yet, but it was suspected that he had run away from home to be with a new girlfriend that lived in New York City.  So, he was awaiting confirmation that all was well, and that he hadn’t meet with an unfortunate mishap.

He explained that it had been difficult to concentrate on his school studies, with everything that had been occurring in recent weeks.  With working fulltime and serving as youth minister at his church, things seemed a little overwhelming.  Silently, I prayed for God to give me some words of encouragement to share with him. I told him that I would be sure to keep his family in prayer. 

He looked at me and said, “I know, I know, everybody got a story, right?” “Yes” I agreed with him. “But, God got a plan, I assured him.  We looked at each other with huge smiles on our faces, and declared “that’ll preach.”  I was excited that God gave just the right answer that encouraged him (us) to know in spite of all that was going on in our lives, God had everything under control.  Furthermore, He has a plan and purpose for our lives. 

This scripture has never been plainer to me than while watching the plan and purpose of Barack Obama unfold last night.  After two years of campaigning; He was declared “President-elect” of the United States of America.  God has restored “hope” within the hearts and minds of African-Americans.  A hope that reminds us, that He hasn’t forgotten and/or left us out of “The American Dream.”

Just like Obama, God has a plan and purpose for each of us.  It is a plan for our welfare, not for disaster; to give us a future and a hope.  Awesome!  You might say, “God has a plan for me? For me?” Yes, and that plan entails all the pieces of our lives.  From the moment God knew you,  He comprised a plan for your life.  And every day since, He has been carefully orchestrating every detail.  Your life is a story; a story that involves every detail.  God is so precise, that He didn’t exclude one tiny aspect.  Not one part of the story was left out.  Not one part of the story is insignificant. 

Everybody got a story, but God got a plan.  His plan is not a plan of calamity or tragedy.  Did God plan the evil of your life?  No, but He carefully and accurately formulated a plan that included every element; every hour, every minute and every day of you life.  Your Story. Did He specifically plan that rape or abuse of your life?  Not according to scripture, His plan is a plan to prosper you and not to harm you. 

So, you can rest assured, that what ever you have gone through or are going through now, God has already made a provision for you.  Because God is aware of all you’re going to face in your life.  He knows what tomorrow holds for you.  And because he knows, He already provided the solutions. 

Now, I don’t know what the story of your life is, but, what I do know is this—it is all apart of His Plan. 

PRAYER:  Dear Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that You are in complete control of my life.  Help me Lord to accept the plan that You have for me.  I place my story in Your capable hands, trusting that all things work together for my good.  Thank You Father, IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN.     Fred Hammond and RFC singing “your steps are ordered.”