Shawanda R. Randolph retired from the United States Air Force after 20 years of service. God would use her keen sense of wisdom, insight, and innate leadership skills, to help guide, direct, and influence those around her, especially those in leadership and potential leadership positions. It was her discipline, worth ethic, and problem-solving skills that led both superiors and fellow associates to depend on her counsel. As, a result, many flourished under her advisement and mentorship. Even then, she understood that it was God who gave her the courage and desire to watch others walk their God-given paths in and outside of the military.

Once Shawanda received this revelation, she understood what would be an essential concept to her ministry: Identity. She knew that once people discovered who they were in God, they would be more effective leaders. She learned that people often separated their professional, personal and spiritual lives. However, as God used her life as a model, He showed her that the three were inter-connected. He used everything he called her to be to propel her into the ministry full-time.

Shawanda holds an MBA in Health Care Administration from Wilmington University and currently pursuing a Master’s in Theology and Ministry with Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the proud mother of one very special son.

At “Fresh Manna” she offers prayers, wisdom, and prophetic instruction on some of the most pressing issues in society today. Fresh Manna’s mission is to not only to nourish the soul of the lost, and replenish those who have accepted Jesus into their hearts but build the next generation of God’s leaders.

She recently published Fresh Manna: A 40 Day Journey To Your Promise and New Beginning With God, currently available on shawandarandolph.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and other online retailers.

Christ in sports is dedicated to Christian athletes who give their all in sports and life. The right way (NO STEROIDS). Jesus is the way and we give Him all the glory, praise and honor. It is because of Him that we can jump as high as we jump, run as fast as we run, and play as hard as we play. Christ in sports is successful due to the high participation of Christian athletes around the world. There is a high demand for our youth to know how God plays a role in our lives and professions. So let's get Christ back into sports around the globe!!! 

The Bible teaches us about the perseverance needed to succeed in our particular sport as well as life. Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV).

Visit them online at https://www.christinsports.com/

For one teenage girl, who watched the march on TV with her mother and felt comfortable enough to tell her about a babysitter who had fondled her “creepily” when she was 9, #MeToo was a consciousness-raising moment.

Another said she’d been very affected, first by the stories and then by the march. “I just had no idea how often it happens; I knew it went on, but I didn’t consider it an epidemic.”

For another, it all seemed confusing: What’s the difference, she asked, between assault and harassment? Is anything short of violent rape, against your will, by a stranger or by someone you know, sexual abuse? 

The girls I interviewed agreed on one thing; The conversations they had with their mothers about sex were mostly about the things moms worry about–contraception, protection, STDs, and sexting.  More than a few of them said they discussed the emotional and relational aspects of sex with their mothers too; “My Mom was pretty open and unembarrassed. I think she gave me a very healthy attitude toward sex,” said one.

Jadyn Pando, a 16-year-old headed to college this fall, said she hears a lot of stories about campus rape, but she’s not unduly worried about it. “I have no problem making a very big, loud, public scene if I feel threatened with any version of that.” She’s had enough male attention to discourage it when it's unwanted."If it's overt, I don’t just walk away and pretend it didn’t happen–I will always say, 'Don’t do that,' or 'That’s not okay.'” An older man who hassled her regularly when she was hostessing at a restaurant made her feel so uncomfortable she reported it to the owner (who also happens to be her father), who banned him from the premises. She added that she would have done the same thing if her boss wasn’t her parent, even if it meant losing her job.

The one thing all the young women I interviewed agreed on was that their mothers had not discussed that “in between” territory that most of them encounter in the dating scene,” and that has caused the most concern about the #MeToo movement –the nuances of romantic and/or sexual contact between the sexes–"the Aziz Ansari thing," as it’s come to be called. 

“What I wish she’d told me was how to tell him to stop when you’re okay with making out, even with heavy petting, but you really really don’t want to go further or have oral sex,” said Ms. Pando. “It’s not pleasant, but you do it anyway. Better to feel uncomfortable when it’s happening than feel sorry or ashamed afterward.”

“I wish my mother had asked me, 'Do you know how to say no, clearly enough so he hears it, in any romantic or sexual encounter?'” said another young woman who is one of my clients. A generational difference worth noting; while my own mother gave me a healthy attitude toward sex, she added (as did the dean of women when I was in college):"A lady doesn’t put herself in a position where that kind of thing can happen.” 

It may be that these days even the most liberal-minded mothers have a difficult enough time engaging with their daughters about sex to imagine them actually having it, regardless of changing your mind in the middle. It reminds me of a time when my daughter asked me a question about oral sex after reading Judy Blume's adult novelWifey: "I understand what and how, I just don 't understand why."  A few years later, in the midst of the Blue Dress that got everyone talking about it, I mentioned to her that in my day, sex was thought of in four well-defined stages –first, second, third base and home plate–and oral sex wasn't even in that progression. Her reply then, at 25, was "They've moved the bases since you were young, Mom." Indeed they have, and generally, it's a good thing.

(This  coda to one of my interviews came from a 20 year old man who supports the #MeToo-ers but adds that there’s not enough attention paid to its male victims, and illustrated his point by pointing out that “Even Law and Order:SVU ignores it unless it’s ripped from the headlines; for every 20 episodes they run about female victims, there’s only one about a male victim. “Just sayin',” he concluded. Thanks, Tristan: You're right, attention must be paid.