DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Our 5 Presidents & 1 With Polka Dot Pink Socks
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© Our 5 living Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter in Dallas Thursday, April 25th.

“One of these kids is doing his own thing!” Sesame Street
What a picture!

In the midst of all the pomp & circumstance – our 5 living presidents coming together for the George W. Bush Presidential Center dedication today at Southern Methodist University in Dallas – 1 of them decided to have a little fun!

Not only did former President George H.W. Bush decide to go against the grain of navy suits and blue ties or shirts with his grey ensemble, he also decided to rock a red polka dot tie and reddish-pink polka dot socks.

I had to laugh.

Who says we can’t be different?

This photo made me think about how awesome it is when we decide to be who we are and just roll with it. Who says we can’t be different?

Now, I get tradition and the “presidential look” of navy and red/blue. There’s a need for protocol. But the artist in me loves it when I see a mini-revolution happening in the line-up. Or maybe it’s because I’m a middle child and uniqueness seems to be that much more important in everyday life.

Coming Together

It was also a cool picture to me of how people, some of whom are on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum, can still come together and be civil and celebrate one another.

I so wish we could get this in the body of Christ. We don’t have to agree with folks in order to have a conversation or build relationship. Our lives should be filled with people who are all kinds of different than we are. Heaven is going to be that kind of place.

John’s vision in Revelation 7:9 revealed “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”. Nobody cared which political party they belonged to. They still worshipped together. Just saying.

Go for the Polka Dots

Whether we look at the photo and think of calling a truce with our opponents for a day to celebrate one’s legacy or we look at it and see a former president dressing outside the box, I hope it makes you smile.

And the next time we want to spice up our grey pant suits, let’s go for the polka dots.
I don’t think Kwamé (circa 1990 One of the Big Boyz) would mind!

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Our Dreams Come True Like Puzzles
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© The Hope Center, Plano, TX

Our dreams come true like puzzles – piece by piece.

They are not some lump-sum payout once in a lifetime. They roll out more like a series of deposits growing into a massive investment that blesses more than just us.

What’chu talking about, Willis?

I experienced another puzzle piece fitting together yesterday. That’s what got me to thinking about this idea and how your dreams and my dreams come together.

Things Come Together

So, I’m not in the LaLa this week. I’m in Dallas teaching workshops and conferences and having Adventures with Plano police. I’ve also had wonderful reunions with friends who make life really rich.

One such friend is Terri Burnett, founder and president of ProvenWay Ministries, “a diverse network of experienced ministry leaders called to equip, connect, and advance women of influence”. If you’re a woman serving in a leadership capacity, check them out. Lots of great resources and connections. They’re celebrating 10 years of ministry and invited me back to share for their Dallas Leaders Retreat in August called “Free to Lead”. Check out their site.

Yesterday, Terri graciously agreed to take me on a tour of The Hope Center, a 9-acre campus housing ProvenWay and about 50 national and international ministries including June Hunt’s Hope for the Heart, Josh McDowell Ministries, Joni & Friends, I Am Second, Global Aid, etc.

June Hunt’s vision for creating The Hope Center (pictured above) was “a dream to co-locate like-minded Christian ministries as they work together to fulfill the message of Christ. The goal: to have a setting that promotes synergy, financial stewardship, and global expansion among Christian nonprofit organizations.” Fam, this campus is a phenom! I was so encouraged.

The Hope Center

Over a year ago, my husband Kevin started talking to me about a Hope Center for the Arts & Media (Hollywood) – a center that houses our H0PE IN THE HILLS services on Sunday, but also has community service all week long. He started drafting elaborate plans and researching architecture. He had no idea about this Hope Center in Plano, just a few minutes from where we used to live once upon a time.

A Hope Center in Hollywood will look a lot different than the one here in Dallas. We probably won’t have the lovely Texas grand chandelier made of elk horns or table cloths of fur (PETA would cover us in red paint for sure!); but here’s where the dream puzzle piece fit:

We now have a tangible, God-created example that screams, “This is possible!”
Kevin’s dream, our dream is totally doable.

Hope’s Center

This is just one piece of the whole puzzle, Fam. It’s just one component of a multi-layered dream that God inspired in my husband and me before we were even married. We’ve been fitting pieces together and moving them around like a great big jigsaw for almost 12 years. And nothing happens overnight. It’s been a slow, bumpy roller coaster.

We have personally lived Romans 5:1-5 that I mentioned yesterday in There’s Hope, “knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Hope’s center is created through tribulation, perseverance and proven character. We want artists and professionals to have a place where they can do life with those of us who have walked through some stuff with the Lord and know without a doubt that things will work out for the best.

What’s Your Next Piece?

So, what’s your God-given dream? Hasn’t it rolled out piece by piece?

I think we can avoid a lot of disappointment if we embrace this idea that our dreams unfold like a jigsaw fitting together over time, instead of expecting God to do everything all at once. I don’t know when it’s ever happened that way – Biblically or now.

So, let’s focus on the next piece and keep each other in prayer.
How does that sound?
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
There’s Hope
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There’s Hope.

I know I say that often, but I do so for a reason. Why? Because we need to be reminded that there is hope in the midst of explosions ringing out in Boston, shoot outs with suspects and terror plots being thwarted in Toronto.

Fam, there’s hope!
Hope is defined as “the feeling that things will turn out for the best”.

We can still have confidence, that regardless of the awful events that are currently taking place as a result of our human depravity, things will ultimately turn out for the best.

I wrote the following in a previous blog. I think it rings true today:

Hope is essential.

Every couple that embarks upon a committed relationship has hope.
Every parent that holds a newborn in the hospital has hope.
Every artist that chases a dream to the silver screen has hope.
Every employer and employee that work each day to get a job done has hope…
Otherwise, why would anyone bother?

Hope is essential.
And our hope does not disappoint because it is based on God’s love for us.

Romans 5:1-5 explains that when we have been saved by faith, we have peace with God through Christ and we can boast in hope of God’s glory as well as boast in our tribulations “knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Our hope springs eternal…

Through tribulation, through perseverance, through character, hope is proven and does not disappoint. It springs eternal.

Hope is like that candle’s flame above that won’t go out.

There is coming a time when there are no more bombings, no more hurting one another, no more sorrow, no more pain. I look forward to that day. I have hope. Do you?

I pray for you today – that hope will not disappoint you as God’s love is poured out in your heart. Please do me a favor and pray for someone you know who also needs hope today.

There’s hope,
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Adventures in Dallas: Do We Look Like Criminals?
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© Janay McDonald Wilborn, Naima Lett, Reese Witherspoon & husband Jim Toth

“Do I look like a criminal?”

Have you ever heard yourself talking and wanted to stop but couldn’t (ummm, wouldn’t)?

That was Saturday night. How did we go from mini-Seminary-reunion to police interrogation? That’s the million dollar question.

Family Reunion

There’s nothing like family reunions. The last 2 weeks of ministry in NJ/NY and now Dallas have been just that: an awesome time of connecting with some of my most precious sister-friends.

And Saturday night was icing on the cake. 3 of my incredible friends and fellow Dallas Seminary alum met me for dinner: Janay McDonald Wilborn, Sharifa Stevens and Dieula Previlon.

I’ll share more about them in an upcoming post, but what you need to know is that all 3 ladies are powerful, skilled communicators of God’s Word as well as down-to-earth, authentic, full of life women/wives/mothers/friends. We caught up, shared, laughed and laughed. Good times!

Pregnant & Criminal Minded?

Big hugs as we parted ways, and I jumped in Janay’s SUV, as she was going to drop me back at my hotel. We were still talking a mile a minute when we saw a couple of police cars. They had pulled somebody over. “Umph, umph, umph,” I thought.

Then, those red and blue police lights were behind us. Why? OK, Janay is almost 7 months pregnant and had to be going only 30 mph on a feeder road. She pulled into a parking lot. Neither one of us was on a cell phone. We both had on seat belts. What was really going on?

Flashlights in the backseat. Flashlights on Janay. Flashlights on me.

Look like a Criminal?

“Neither of your tail lights are on,” I think the officer said. Janay will have to correct me. I was half-way hearing as I was trying to figure out if we were being profiled.

“Oh! I got my car washed today and they always mess with my lights. I don’t know why they do that,” Janay offered. Then, she flipped on the lights. Working! Great!

“License and Registration, please.” Janay gave hers.

“I need to see yours too,” Oh, the officer was talking to me.

“Why?” I heard myself say.

“I need to ID all persons in the vehicle.”

“Why?”

“I need to make sure there are no criminals.”

“Do I look like a criminal to you?”

For the sake of brevity, I won’t replay the entire conversation, but the gist of his explanation had to do with criminals coming in all shapes and sizes, even ministers and pastors. He needed to see everybody’s ID. Is that legal? I have never been asked to show my ID as a passenger. NEVER!!!! And I’ve lived all over these United States of America. Oh Plano, TX!

Does Reese Witherspoon look like a criminal?

I wanted to fight, but I don’t think my beautiful, pregnant friend or her wonderful husband would’ve ever forgiven me if I had gotten us arrested that night. I am also constantly reminded by my own husband Kevin that if I’m ever arrested, for something other than fighting for human rights or suffering for Jesus, then he is not going to bail me out. That’s a strong deterrent, right?

Turns out we weren’t the only ones interacting with the Five-O this weekend. My entertainment news feed burst open this morning with mug shots of Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon and super-agent husband Jim Toth. DRAMA! Does America’s Sweetheart look like a criminal? Unfortunately, now she does. Apparently, Reese did go off and was arrested. All I could think was… that could’ve been me. Oh!

I was reminded of Hebrews 13:17-8: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.”

Prayer

It is NOT OK to be profiled, but our lights were not on, so that gave the officers cause for concern and reason to pull us over. It is also NOT OK for celebs to go off on police and disobey. There are jail cells awaiting. Our country has been through a lot in the last week. I think everybody’s on high alert. I’ll choose today to pray for our officers, even the ones who pulled us over.

And I’m going to ask you to pray for your girl as I continue my adventures in the Big D!
We’re not in LaLa Land this week, Toto!
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Blogs from the Sky. Headed to the Big D!
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Happy Friday, Fam!

Blogging from 37,000 miles high.
Gotta love modern technology. :=)

Excited to be headed back to the Big D!

Actors Workshop

First, our friends at North Dallas Bible invited me back to teach an Actors Workshop tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, 11 AM. I’ll be sharing about authenticity and what it means to walk out our faith in the industry. Then I get to work with the artists and their scenes. Should be lots of fun.

National Conference

Then, I’ve been invited to share at the National Christian Women in Media Conference. I’m teaching the workshop “Launch! Taking Your Idea from Conception to Production” with my friend, actress/author Lar Park Lincoln. Again, lots of fun!

How are you?

So, how are you? What’s happening in your neck of the woods?

I always pray for uneventful flights. The more exciting flights tend to keep a constant prayer on our lips. Isn’t that the way it goes? Lol! Anybody else hit a rough patch of space and instantly start quoting King David?

“Help, Lord!” a.k.a. Psalm 38:22 -“Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior!”

I’m kidding around, but I’m grateful we do have someone we can call on when turbulence hits. Hopefully that’s not the only time we talk to God, but thank the Lord we can call upon the name of the One who created the sky when things get funny in the skies.

Have a beautiful weekend.
And if you’re in the Big D, holler!
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
First Elmo. Now Barney. Who’s Next?
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© Sesame Street and Barney & Friends

Been a rough year for Children’s TV creators.
First Elmo. Now Barney.
Who’s next?

Elmo

Kevin Clash, creator of Sesame Street’s super famous Muppet Elmo, is no longer known solely for his 28 years of service, 23 Daytime & 1 Prime-time Emmy Awards. In November, Kevin resigned from Sesame Street engulfed in scandalous allegations of inappropriate relationships with underage teens. To date, 6 young men have joined a lawsuit against Kevin. Voice-overs for Elmo are recorded through 2014, but Elmo’s fate thereafter is up in the air.

Barney

This week, Barney & Friends creator, Sheryl Leach, was slapped with a suit for negligence in allowing her son Patrick (and his supposed violent tendencies) to own guns on her gated-community property in Malibu. Patrick is charged with attempted murder after shooting his neighbor with a .45 in an argument over trespassing. I don’t know if Sheryl can actually be held accountable for her 27-year old son’s behavior, but Barney is now on the 6 o’clock news in this heated debate over gun control?

Who’s Next?

Dora? Big Bird? Mr. Snuffleupagus?

Creators of our children’s beloved television characters are just as human and flawed as the rest of us (though I truly hope that we aren’t coercing young men through chat rooms, etc.) The difference between them and us is their millionaire dirty laundry is hung out to dry on TMZ, CNN and E! News. Nobody’s too concerned with exposing our $10 boxers from Target or our 3 for $20 special from Victoria’s Secret.

But here’s the lesson for all of us: whatever we think we’re hiding or getting away with is no secret at all. Eventually, the truth surfaces. Young men find their way to a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Neighbors press charges. And our jobs hire publicists to spin damage control.

Live Like Everybody Knows

How about we choose to live in transparency, as if everybody knows what’s going on?

Ephesians 5:8-13 encourages us to live as children of light: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.”

Everything illuminated becomes a light. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? That’s what I aspire to today. Won’t you do the same?

And let’s pray for the creators of the content that reaches our children on a daily basis. We entrust them to entertain and teach our babies; but it sounds like they could use some intercession when they leave Sesame Street or Barney’s neighborhood and go home to their own cul-de-sacs.

Lifting folks up from the LaLa,
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Embracing Change or Botox®
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© source

“The only thing that is constant is change…”

This famous quote is attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher around 500 B.C. After reportedly leaving his wealthy upbringing to rough it in a mountain hut, Heraclitus observed nature and concluded, “Cold things grow hot, the hot cools, the wet dries, the parched moistens”. Everything’s in constant flux.

Obviously, Heraclitus wouldn’t have made it in Hollywood.
First, he walked away from his wealth. What?!
Then, he embraced change. Clutch the pearls!

Faces that Don’t Move

When we first moved to the LaLa, we heard jokes about faces that didn’t move. Then, we started actually seeing them – no wrinkles, no creases, no movement.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m nobody’s judge. I just find it fascinating that there is such an all-out war declared against the inevitable: everyday we get older. Everyday things change.

I used to be able to bust a split like breathing. Now, I’ve got to warm up and dance a few minutes before I even think about it. What about you?

Change is Hard

I get it, Fam. Change is hard.

Our film/TV industry is fighting a losing battle to keep a version of the studio system hobbling along in the face of digital changes that have revolutionized our viewing habits. Instead of learning from the dismantling of the music industry, studio execs are holding on for dear life.

Our government fights it. Our institutions fight it. Our churches fight it. Our relationships fight it. Why don’t we like change? Is it because we don’t want to face the unknown?

Embrace Change

After the great flood, God makes a promise to Noah (and all mankind) in Genesis 8:21-22, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

God says as long as He keeps this earth rotating, the constant will be change: planting to harvest, cold to hot, summer to winter, day to night. Change. Change. Change. If God promises change, could we do well to embrace it?

When we further search the Scriptures, we find over and over God’s promise of Himself being the Constant. He repeatedly promises to never leave nor forsake His people. The writer of Hebrews 13:5 quotes this very promise of God from Deuteronomy 31:6, and then relates it to God’s Son, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Heb 13:8.

When everything’s in flux around us, as it will be, if we must hold on to anything, let it be the truth that our Savior is the one real constant. Can we find any long lasting security elsewhere? Cause everything else will change. That’s for sure.

There’s Always Botox®

And if for some reason, we still want to fight the inevitable and freeze-frame our faces every six months (I hear that’s how long the injections last), there’s always Botox®. And there are some really cool docs right here in the Hills who’ll give you all the Botulinum toxin you desire.

Did you know that Botulinum toxin causes botulism? Please remind me of this 20 years from now if I start talking about injecting it into my skin to reverse the lines that prove that I’ve lived. Deal? LOL!

But seriously, how are we doing embracing the changes in your life?
I’m finally learning to go with the flow, and that’s a good thing,
Naima

Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
The Up-Side of Taxes in Hollywood
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Happy Tax Day? :=)

I don’t know anyone who is actually “happy” about tax day… or about taxes, period.

Yet, we “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Mark 12:13-17

We understand why we have taxes, but gosh, sometimes I wonder, “Does the government really need 35% of my residual checks?”

The Silver Lining

We look for a silver lining and in Hollywood’s case, we find it in films like this year’s Academy Awarders Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, and Lincoln (above).

These are 3 of the 5 movies (out of 9 Best Picture nominees) that received major tax incentives that helped them film. Forbes reports “Actor-director Ben Affleck and producer George Clooney’s film, Argo, received $6.21 million in tax credits from the California Film Commission. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones, hauled in $3.5 million in tax-free film credits (from Virginia). Silver Linings Playbook bagged $5.6 million (from Pennsylvania).”

Tax Incentives

That doesn’t mean that Silver Linings Playbook received a $5.6 million wad of cash. The way tax credits work is that the production budget is credited back $5.6 million in taxes owed. So, the producers are able to use that $5.6 million elsewhere in the budget, like editing, etc.

40 states (down from 45 in 2011) now offer tax incentive programs to keep film and television production going. While some states have cut their programs back, Georgia and Louisiana still compete to be the hostess with the most-est.

Louisiana offers up to 35% back in tax breaks. The Twilight Saga’s vampires and werewolves really took advantage of these. Georgia offers 30% tax credit. This went to all of Tyler Perry’s films and TV shows as well as to projects like Flight, The Blind Side, Lawless, Parental Guidance, The Walking Dead, Single Ladies, Fast 5, and X-Men: First Class. FULL LIST of tax programs

The Up-Side?

So the up-side, I suppose, is that while the government may take 35% of my acting residual checks in taxes, it is also (in some cases) gives back 35% in tax breaks to bring life to projects I can potentially work on.

I don’t know who I’m trying to convince more, you or me? LOL!
If not a Happy Tax Day, have a Happy Monday.

Lots of love from LaLa Land,
Naima

What do you think? Is there an up-side here?

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Are We “Those People”?
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Are we “those people?”

We’ve all experienced it, haven’t we?
Some of us more than once.
My latest was on yesterday’s flight from the LaLa to Newark.

Those People (in Hollywood)

“What do you do?” asked the Catholic business retiree on his way to tour Israel for 9 days.
“Actor, producer & my husband and I recently founded a church plant in Beverly Hills,” I replied.
“Oh?”
“With artists and professionals. Cool group.”
“They sure do need it.”
“They?”
“Those people… in Hollywood. They sure do need it.”
“Don’t we all?”

Where does a conversation go from there?

Awkward silence…
(in case you were wondering. :=)

How could I have responded, Fam, that allowed for more dialogue? But my question legitimate? Don’t we all need Jesus? Not just “those people” in Hollywood… or wherever “those people” are?

Mary of Magdala

I just finished presenting my drama 3 Marys: A 1-Woman Play for Creative Living at Long Hill Chapel here in NJ, (Thanks a million for the invitation again!) and the last Mary I dramatize was Mary of Magdala. Mary was definitely one of “those people”.

Luke 8:2 says that Mary of Magdala had 7 demons B.C. (Before Christ!) She would’ve absolutely been stigmatized. The religious community definitely would not have approved or wanted her hanging around. Folks that have evil spirits are usually not quiet about it.

But Jesus took the time to heal Mary and then she followed Him and became the first person alive to witness His resurrection. She was entrusted to deliver the good news of His resurrection to His disciples who didn’t believe. If Jesus could take the time to care for “those people”, can’t we, His followers, do the same?

Hollywood Teleseminar

I had a good conversation yesterday with Os Hillman, president of Marketplace Leaders. He invited me to answer the question, “Can Anything Good Come Out of Hollywood?” on our Faith & Hollywood Teleseminar.

On that call, I quoted Bob Briner, author of Roaring Lambs. He said that if Hollywood (or anywhere else) is dark, it’s because the light left. Maybe it was because we started separating ourselves into us versus “those people”.

I encourage us today, Fam, instead of thinking of others as “those people”, let’s see all of us in the same boat. We all need a savior. Thank God for Jesus.

Food for thought.
Have a great weekend,
Naima

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