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Professor Manuel Hernández Essays Collection Email: mannyh32@puertoricans.com Website http://www.geocities.com/mannyh32/ or http://www.editorialplazamayor.com/autores/manuel_hernandez.htm http://groups.yahoo.com/group/latinoliterature (Yahoogroup for the discussion of literature and education) For additional: HC-O1, Box 8552, Luquillo, Puerto Rico 00773 or e-mail. mannyh32@puertoricans.com Dec 6, 2007 -New Book Presentation - The Birth of a Rican - By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona

Latino/a Literature Seminars

Manuel Hernandez has given seminars on how to integrate Latino/a Literature in the English Classroom in cities across the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico. He is willing to visit your school, community center, corporation and institution and share his view on this new literature. The literature can serve as a bridge for further literary analysis and can help students improve their scores on city, national and state testing requirements.
(Click here for curriculum vitae)

Living the Kingdom (13)
By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona copyright 2008
mannyh32@puertoricans.com

The Kingdom of God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly “above all that we ask according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV). The children of the Lord have the opportunity to go beyond the natural order of things once they allow God’s power to work full throttle in their lives. “Exceedingly abundantly” and “above all” are descriptors that imply more than the usual and ordinary. Our Lord Father makes the impossible possible when our lifestyles denote peace, justice, joy and authority in the Spirit.

The only supernatural way to react and respond extraordinarily to ordinary situations is to move forward from one level of understanding to the next. Throughout the letters sent to the Corinthians church, the Apostle Paul constantly reminds them (us) to leave behind the so-called “child mentality” that stands in the way of reaching that next level. To conduct our lives “according to that power” means to release that which is “exceedingly abundant” in all of us.

The Kingdom of God is revealed and enacted according to the way we (God’s children) react to real-life situations and circumstances. Daniel was a captive and exiled in a foreign land well beyond the borders of his country. But when faced with defining his relationship with God, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to make the impossible possible and “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the proportion of the king’s delicacies” (Daniel 1:8). God’s purpose in Daniel’s life brought about the kingdom of God, and he accepted the challenge and reached the next level of His Father’s will. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold as a slave, but he never strayed away from the “vision” that God Himself designed for him. His circumstances did not get in the way of exceeding and acting accordingly.

The only way to receive the kingdom of God is by living it daily. Let there be no misunderstanding; it is not about disregarding who we are as people who must live an everyday reality, but it is regarding the truth of who we are as children of the Almighty God even when betrayal, death, disaster and tragedy knock on our doors. It is lifting our heads and focusing on what He said He would do, rather than looking down at the situation and dwelling on our “past way of living”. Go forth, move beyond the ordinary and allow the Kingdom of God to make a difference in you and your generations to come. This is the day that God made to glorify Him in your life!

Manuel Hernandez, a contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com), lives in Puerto Rico where he teaches school. He has a B.A. and MA Teaching English. He is candidate for a PhD. He has just published a textbook titled, Latino/a Literature in The English Classroom (Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2003). For more information, e-mail him at mannyh32@puertoricans.com For school orders, go to www.editorialplazamayor.com for more information or call 787-764-0455 For a complete bibliography: email me at mannyh32@puertoricans.com