LFB State of the Union Address

A young curly-headed boy turns a tight corner around an old white house. He looks back and sees a pack of wild dogs chasing him down. He hurdles his bike through an old dilapidated red barn, and he suddenly notices more than dogs, but also cats, rabbits, and even squirrels joining together in the chase. Rotting flesh and dirt is falling away from their bodies. He sees a huge ravine ahead, and although he dared never to make such a jump before, decides to take the leap. He barely makes it and hits the edge. Clinging to the edge of the cliff, his bike falls into the ravine. The ravine is filled with floating coffins and decomposed corpses. Suddenly a ghost-faced painted man, with blood running down his face and wearing a brown wig with a sheriff badge, grabs his clinging right hand and helps him to his feet. The man says, “Howdy, what is your name little boy?” The kid says, “My name is LeeFredrick Bowen.” The fake cop responded, “Well, how about that. That’s my name too. I am you from the future. I wore this costume to a Halloween party and never took it off. You must listen and go back to your time to face your fears. Otherwise you will end up putting on a mask to escape your pain and hide from yourself.” The kid realizes he is dreaming and decides it’s time to wake up. As he fades out of the scene with his heart pounding, he barely hears his future self yell out his last words, “And watch out for falling sticks?”
“To Infinity and Beyond in 2009”Poem By: All the people who made suggestions
It is on the line and looking fine.The past is behind and the future is mine.
O.J. finally does time.So let’s have some wine.
Yes I can because I’m the man.Get off my behind in 2009!
Tabitha Thompson read this prophetic story and poem from the stage where the The LFB State of the Union had been addressed. It was set in front of the old white house in Bolton, NC. Before leaving the stage, she made a point in stating the injustices that occur in shopping areas. “This dress I am wearing is priced tagged at 10.00 dollars at the flea market in Wallace, but I spent days searching for a better price and bought the same exact dress from a flea-market in Charlotte for 9.00 dollars. I went back to Wallace and informed them of their injustice. Change must come to America.” Although Mr. Bowen has no authority over the market, he appreciated Mrs. Thompson’s passion and had her escorted back to her seat.
She was followed by a musical selection from Marcus Barefield’s band. He trimmed the beard he tripped over from the 2007 State of the Union and caused his permanent handicap of waddling. For some random reason this year, Barefield threw two bricks in the air which the first landed in the audience and actually injured VIP guess Hilary Clinton. Oddly, he didn’t seem pleased with himself and then threw the second straight in the air. Barefield was taken in handcuffs while babbling, “It’s was part of my joke! I didn’t get to finish the joke!” Clinton remained for the rest of the ceremony and treated by Dr. Josh Riggsbee with an icepack next to her forehead. She grumbled about missing the White House. Riggsbee tried comforting her with his bedside manner by constantly repeating, “I voted for you.”
Bowen finally took the stage after being sworn in by the new deputy minister Duane Looney, and the audience played a game called Looney Says, “Looney says, see if you can find his debit card.” Bowen spoke about growing up in the white house. He highlighted on his inheritance from his father’s death. It included a metal box that contained an old shot gun and secret design plans on a major project. This project still remains classified to this day. All we know about this secret project is that Kimberly Bowen took the shot gun, and Michael Bowen took the design plans, together they forged into the back woods of the white house with a bottle of Poland Spring water and have not been heard from since.
Bowen announced the bailout proposal of Derwin Inc, during this motivational recession. Bowen announced, “By the end of 2009, we are going to put back every yard sale, every bake sale with even nasty cookies, every get rich quick scam, every lottery system from casino slots to rolling dice on the street, and every couch will have loose change in it again. We will stimulate our motivational economy.” Republicans and Democrats gave a standing ovation at this peak of Bowen’s speech.
Reporters asked Bowen his Fellowship Policy in Greenville? Mr. Bowen responded, “Well, I can see ECU from my apartment.” The audience gave another standing ovation at such a groovy response. Former president Brandon Lloyd of The Bom Corporation has been appointed to Bowen’s Cabinet as Chief Confidant and has been given the LFB Book of Secrets. Marcus Coward has been recalled from the Witness Protection Program after the arrest of several key persons that drained him of all his energy, including LFB President Bowen. Bowen has been given clemency for the crimes of the past. Mr. Lloyd commented also that, “Winterville people like East Arcadia people, don’t play.” Coward starts crying over his new freedom, however; Bowen confused his crying for a nervous breakdown and shook Coward before he slapped him and shouted, “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.”
Mistress of ceremonies Oretha Kinlaw called for order again the proceedings. She instilled back the confidence of the people for Bowen. She proclaimed his dedication to growth and change. Bowen was concerned with the lack of productivity for spiritual matters, personal matters, and social matters. He testified that we still have a long way to grow but remained confidant after noting how far we have come. Kinlaw officially closed, “Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008.” Reporters bundled together knocking over each and leaning against the trees while anticipating the New Years slogan for 2009.
Bowen announced, “The new year is about getting back on track. It is about reaffirming our beliefs and our principles by strengthening the foundation that enforces these beliefs. It is about continuing to humble ourselves as we build ourselves by breaking away the pettiness and the nonsense. Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask for your support and accountability as God bless our New Year’s slogan, “Realigning My Mind to God’s Design in 2009”
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ” 1 Corinthians 13:9-11 NIV
After announcing the New Year’s slogan, Bowen was hit in the head by hard brick that must have gotten caught in the trees above him. He suffered a non-fatal injury with a gash to his head and with blood running down his face, Bowen laughed like a trooper after he said, “Ohhhhh, he said falling bricks!”
COMPUTER END PROGRAM!!!

A Year Into the New Era

Hello folks,
Starting in the new year I do plan to keep up with my blog on a weekly bases at least. I won't do it by notes like this one but I wanted to post this one by note. This is a crazy time of the year for me because of work. After typing on a computer all day when responding to emails and processing applications, blogging tends to feel like work. It generally takes me all morning if I do nothing else before lunch. But you have incoming phone calls and traffic to tend to as well. Everyone is stressed with their own duties, but I have to say that part of me loves it. I love staying busy and to see how quickly I can get the job done. When it comes to pressure, "some people fold and others focus." "A deadline has a remarkable way of focusing the mind." I do get a break and do what is best about my job which is talking to families about ECU during our information sessions.

But that is work that generally stays at work. Personally I am a little over a year into the New Era. If you don't know what the New Era means then that only means you don't know me as well as you think. Those that are closes to me know what I am talking about but I won't punish those that don't. The New Era basically is term I came up with that labels the major lifetime seasons of my life I feel God has lead me to or helped me through in my spiritual development. These tend to last around three years I've noticed. Prior to the New Era was called Post-Depression Era, then Great Depression Era, then Pre-Depression Era, The Great Wars (basically high school), Years of Hell (basically middle school), Survival Age, then Birth. Not very creative names but pretty accurate. Maybe I'll rename them later but it doesn't matter, the point is that I have seen the design of my life and each season has helped shaped the next and so forth. How can anyone not see how God is involved in everything that they do, good or bad, free-will or destiny, their is always a plan.

I discovered this around November 14, 2007. I keep a journal and I highly recommend it for anyone. A journal helps you take a step back and really look at yourself and evaluate your life. It helps you to see the great parts of yourself and the worse parts. It shows you how you have grown which motivates you to keep growing. It also leaves your legacy for someone else to be inspired by your testimony. I mean let's face it, not all of us are going to be analyzed and known in history books like Lincoln or MLK. So let's leave something behind for our families to learn and grow from our experiences. And don't allow fear of someone knowing your business prevent it, I promise you that when we're dead, we are not going to care. If I'm wrong, "I owe you a Coke."

Moving on, the New Era is the season that I am currently in right now. It is a time in my life when I feel like I am looking at life brand new again. Without being seriously inhibited by the horrors (extreme word) of my past. No doubt that I could have been a much happier person if my past situation wasn't so unstable. If you know me then you know what I am talking about. But please don't mistake me, I LOVE my family and my friends I grew up with, I would have wanted better from our past but I don't waste my time worrying about how things should have been. We worked it out and we made it through by the grace of God and we all are doing well. We have gain a great deal of wisdom, faith, and perserverance from the struggles of our past. Although it caused some emotional and psychological side effects, we have worked through them and are still pushing forward.

The new year is coming up, and I evaluate the year. I look over the goals I have set out for myself and determine how I can do better and how I have done better. Then decide to take it a notch up into the next year. I will start drafting my New Year's theme beginning of December. Remember this year was "Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008." I am always glad to hear recommendations, my past favorites from folks are "Making it Great in 2008, Going to Heaven in 2007, Getting a Fix in 2006, Picking up Sticks in 2006, or Throwing Bricks in 2006, and Staying Alive in 2005." They tend to be pretty creative..lol...So let the bidding begin.

I heard something like this once, "Did I have have it rough? Yes! Should you feel sorry for me? No! Why? Because though it was bad there are still people who had it a lot worse than me. And if I don't want to acheive any more than I already have, then please respect that. But if I don't because I think it would be too hard or I don't feel like being bothered, then Thank God, you don't even want to know me."

My Revelation

I am still in the process of reading through my entire journal collection and extracting all of the lessons I have learned for documentation. My journals consist of three eras of my life I have named when I begin writing them consistently back in 2003. They contain over half of my Great Depression Era, the full time span of my Post-Depression Era, and a little over a year into the New Era to present time.

I was reading over a journal back from September 22, 2003. During this time I was staying in D.C. with my brother and God had already told me that I needed to return to Greenville about a week or two earlier. I was already making my plans and put in my notices at my part time jobs and was ready to take a leap of faith. Now I know for some of you it may not have taken faith but let me remind you I had no prospects aside from a college degree. Little to no money, no car, no driver’s license, and hardly any work experience. So it took a lot of faith to return to G-Ville with my head between my legs begging my old college friends for a place to stay and looking like the biggest loser walking.

Reading over my journal from that September, I had documented all the major blessings of my life up to that point in time. How God’s plan for my life was so perfectly designed and how they worked out so beautifully when I BECAME obedient and followed them to the letter. I took the narrow path in a lot of situations and I am still reaping blessings today from the right decisions I made back even when I was a freshmen in college and before.

You know scripture talks about God pouring out blessings you won’t have room to receive, mainly discussing tithes and offerings. And I hear people complaining about how they pay tithes and offerings and they are just as financially limited as they were when they didn’t pay, some may even be more financially limited not being able to buy all the luxuries they desire because of that ten percent leaving they’re pay checks. So they ask, “Where are all of these blessings scripture talks about? My cup is supposed to be overflowing.”

I look at tithes and offerings more than just a Christian scriptural requirement and more than just so your church has the necessary funds to continue its mission. It is about faith and obedience. The two go together but most people seem to look at it from a perceptive as if something is owed to us. And whatever is due must come in the form of a pay check.

Let me say this, all of the money in the world can be contained. If you had all the money in the world, then it stands to reason that you can afford to build the room to contain it. But as I read my journals, the blessings I list are the friendships and healthy relationships I seized that lead to other friendships and relationships. The skills, the wisdom, and the knowledge I’ve learned from these people. The powerful prayers, testimonies, and personal gifts I received from these individuals. The lifetime partnerships established in going together and uphold God’s principles and be a beckon of light on the earth. No man can contain such blessings in a single day and not even in their own lifetime because of the impact you still have the opportunity to make on the earth just by simply being obedient and having faith in every situation. I deserve damnation but my salvation through Jesus Christ overflows my heart with hope. What more do you people want?

Retirement from the BCM

The school year has started out great. We admitted about nearly 4700 freshmen for the fall to ECU and it was an awful summer of busyness. AWFUL! The slow summer I was used to are gone. Things are finally calming down and I am looking foward to getting back on the road to NJ, PA, VA, and of course NC. Seeing all of the students returning to the BCM has been awesome and well as meeting new students. I have been given a proposal by a student group to be their orgaization advisor. Chi Alpha Omega, a christian fraternity on campus. Small group a guys I have met at the BCM and they are some really great solid students. It will be interesting to be their advisor so we will see if it comes through this year. I have already met some interesting freshmen this fall. Making friends with freshmen again I supposed. I have already selected some of my favorites but I will never mentioned their names. I truly love everyone. I love watching myself and how I have come such a long way from the Great Depression Era to seeing what times would have been like if I was different in the New Era with BCM. The fresh friendships I have made through this time has been rewarding and will continue no doubt to be even more rewarding as I continue to grow. However, I know myself well and I know the immediate plans of the life God has set out for me. I am truly welcomed in the BCM and the roll that I play there is different and mature. But I know when it is time to move forward and press on. There is nothing wrong with making friends with younger people. When I was a freshmen, my first close friend in college was Carolyn. A non-traditional student who was over forty years old. We are still friends to this day. In fact I bought my car from her this past summer like I said I always would in my undergrad. I have used the BCM for the growth necessary that I have missed out in my past due to depression and to be given a second chance at experiences that I have missed out in my undergrad due to depression. I have come a long, long, way. But I know when the clock in winding down in a phase in my life. Just like it did with Intervarsity. The BCM was too special to past up for the past year and a half. And this new academic year I will still enjoy my time. But this will be the last year I am a part of the BCM in this capacity. No this does not mean I will not be involved in student activities or that I will not allow myself to build solid relationships with new students. This means that I have claimed VICTORY!!! True victory over the sins that Depression has caused in my past due to fellowship and social situations. It is time to move on. Where? I am not certain. It is easy to say, well of course the next step is to get more involved in the church. But ECU and the students are still a big part of my life. I have a wealth of knowledge to give back to the students about college success. I also still have a lot of personal plans and goals that I must refocus on again. The next level is up to God. But I announce this to you now. This will be my last academic year with the BCM in the roll I am currently serving. I am retiring and moving forward to the next level. Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008!!!

A New School Year Approaches

Well it has been a summer since we spoke journal. I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with you. But I intend to do better. I hearby write this journal before me and my friend Jared Webb go out jogging in a little bit of rain and I just got through eating out with white Marcus and his family. I have been accepted to Graduate School for English this summer but that was the hard part. Taking that useless GRE. I am already halfway through the program because of all the Non-Degree credits I have taken. I have decided to push my acceptance date back to this spring for convienence purposes. I have travel season coming up for work and it would be best if I postpone for just one more semester. I am looking forward to the new academic year. I must admit that I have missed the students on campus. It is a little dead during the summer but I have had a great summer no doubt. There are still a lot of good friends in town. I especially missed the Baptist Campus Ministry crew. Don't tell them I said that though. I won't stretch this journal but I do plan on not neglecting you from this point on. But don't really hold to that committment. Still Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008! Bowen Out!

2008 Summer Mission: NOW IT IS TIME TO JUST DO IT!

I hearby write this journal after jogging with my close friend white Marcus. Guys it is really hot out there. It is like a heat wave is moving through this summer. We barely made it through and we ran around 8:00pm. Well it has been over a week since I got my wheels. I haven't really done much lately with my car. I haven't even been out of town yet with it. With the cost of gas, I might as well still feel like I don't have a car because I can't go anywhere without considering the cost. I plan to leave town on the 19th to go back home for a wedding. This will give the chance for Momma to take a ride in her baby's new ride. I did manage to give it an oil change and filled her up with her first tank of gas which cost me over fifty dollars. This is one of the reasons I must get rich. Because it is not going to get any cheaper from here. Something will have to be done for all of us. Recently this past week I received a revelation for a prophetic dream I had over a year ago in the month of January. I know when I have a spiritual dream when I receive them. I keep a personal journal in which is was documented then. I probably receive a spiritual dream once every two to four years these days. Usually it is prophetic about something that is about to happen. The events from this dream fulfilled itself out over the course the past year and a half and the message I received from it was "SO DO IT!" which relates to my personal God given assignments. Now I didn't know then exactly what I was suppose to do, and have been racking my brain over the past year trying to figure it out. I have been doing a lot of things. I didn't know what the spiritual dream was referring to specifically. This summer as I battled with knowing that whatever I was suppose to be doing the time is now since the last event from the dream finally took place in the beginning of May. The message was telling me that there is really a lot of loose ends I must clear up before I finally see my major purpose. A great deal of issues I have been avoiding and I need a great deal of order and discipline in my life in order to move forward. Sure I still have a lot of personal issues to uproot from my past but the dream was telling me that I must move forward regardless of how I feel and start putting order in my life. So I have no choice but to Just Do It!!!

Well I Bought a Car.

This past week on a very rainy and miserable looking day. It was made official as of this date Wednesday, May 28, 2008 that LeeFredrick Bowen finally bought a car. It took me about a good ten years to get around to it but better late than never. I know that buying a car for those who are around my age and my peers isn't a big deal at this point. I have friends that are my age who are getting married, buying houses, graduating with Masters Degrees, in Ph.D programs and MD programs, and even having children. All great and wonderful things to tell folks at their ten-year high school reunion in which mine is coming up next year around this time. Getting a car is a big thing at probably sixteen through 21 whether bought or given used and new so what's the big deal with it now at age 26 and will be 27 years by this July. Well if you know me from back home, then you are pretty familiar with some circumstances of my past. If you know me well, then you are familiar with the great deal of struggle it really took to get here and do a lot of these things on my own. All of my life I have been playing catch up. I struggled in school until I finally manage to catch up academically in middle school. I coudn't get a driver's license without insurance and I had no parents who drove to put me on any insurance. I wasn't expected to make it through college, I wasn't expected to find a descent job after college, I manage to find an apartment in walking distance to ECU. I manage to get a driver's license while working my first full time job through ECU doing clerical work. I went through a driving school and learned just enough to pass the driving test. Then the next day I was given keys to a state vehicle and became familiar with the rest on the streets of G-Ville. To everyone's great supprise no tickets, no car accidents. I didn't tell my supervisor at the time until about a year later that when she gave me the keys to bring the van around to pick her up so that we could do inventory at the warehouse that I nearly hit the fire hydrant on my way out the parking lot. And I was thinking in my mind, "Thank God, she is not around to see that." But I managed to do ok and was given a few assignments outside of G-Ville to work on a promotion since travel is required for Admissions recruiting. I still remember my first drive outside of G-Ville which was to Raleigh. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I came dangerously close to learning the lesson harshly that the yellow underneath a green sign that you are passing under means that you are in an exit lane. It was dark and if I didn't see the taillights of a car in front of me turning right then I probably wouldn't have slammed my breaks to slow down from 70 miles/hour to just enough speed in order to not lose control of the vehicle as it flys down a sharp curve off the exit going towards Zebulon I believe. I pulled in a parking lot and breath for a bit before getting back on forty. There were a few close calls but God was with me. One of the concerns in my interview for a promotion was all the travel we have to do and they knew I just had my licenses for about a year. And I said, "Oh, I'll be find. I'm excited." In which was true, but I understood their concerns because I had them too. So they took a chance on me, I got my promotion and I assume that I would get a chance to get my feet wet in Virginia, then Maryland and work my way up. But no, my first full week of travel is straight to northern NJ. I guess I was being tested. If I can drive there, I could drive anywhere. Many of my co-workers were scared to death for me. But I was still excited despite their concerns and my concerns. I drove in northern NJ and to Long Island and all over CT like a pro. I don't know where it came from but God was with me. After a month of travel everyone was pleased I got back safely. I have always had God's favor and I thank God that almost three years of getting my license in the first place and earning the promotion allowed me to be able to afford my first car. Bought and paid for because at this time I don't believe in car payments. It's nothing fancy but I believe God blessed me with a good car for my current needs. I feel like that this is the last official hurdle I had to overcome that stems from the cirrcumstances of my past. Sure I still have a few internal issues to heal from mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And I don't have as much as many of my other peers so but I feel like I am finally on the same playing field as everyone else. The really hard parts of catching up in life are over. At this time I thank God for a great full time professional job that allows me to take graduate classes for free at ECU, and learn a great deal about working in a professional environment, no bad debt, I still pay my tithes and offering, a great church, great friends in the area, and a great family who has helped me cope with a lot (my Mom and my siblings). I had about a day, maybe two to sit back and relax at what all has been accomplish before I focus on the next task. I am Humbling Forward in a New Era of Faith in 2008! What's Next?