Trying to follow

Now, I don’t know him personally, but I’d guess Edward Gilbreath is an all around nice guy. Some how he managed to write a book, Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity, about race, racism and the church, and, from what I can tell probably didn’t really upset anyone.
Gilbreath some how manages to talk about the topic of race, pointing out difficult points, injustices, and disagreements, but in such a kind way, that I think any reader would go away willing to consider the points he made. And this is not to say that he loses anything in his critiques in an effort to please everyone, he just doesn’t go off to any extreme (which I am often guilty of), and when he talks about his own experience, he does so with an authenticity and honest that leaves you with a feeling of genuine connection and understanding.

I was very impressed by this book and I felt Gilbreath wrote in such a way that this is a book I could pass on to others that might not willingly listen to some of the more extreme (though I believe often factually accurate) information regarding race and structural racism. If you have a friend or family member who you’ve been looking for something to share with them to address the topic of race, I’d highly recommend Reconciliation Blues.

Sorry for keeping my comments brief. For an interesting discussion, and maybe one you should jump into, regarding some of what the book covers, check out this other book review on Reconciliation Blues.

This is a brief journal entry from my first Job interview in Nashville (I didn’t get that job)…

7/10/05

So, I was sort of ready for the day, except I went to bed a little late. Then about 5am I woke up with a bad stomach ache, not something that usually happens to me. It went away but I lost my last hour of sleep. Then it was time to get ready to go. I quickly realized to major flaws in my attire: 1) I forgot to get a black belt, and Chip (whose house we are staying at momentarily) has a smaller waist then me so I’m out of luck. And 2) The shirt that was best ironed (and since it was nicely ironed I didn’t bother ironing anymore), turned out to be far too small for me (who gave me that darn shirt, I think it was Nate). I had trouble tying my tie too, which was frustrating. So after a quick breakfast I still had on the agenda to buy a new shirt and belt before the interview.

I took off to the nearest store and quickly bought a shirt and belt, and then took the close into the bathroom and changed there. Then I was off. Our air conditioning doesn’t work so I’m cruising with the windows down hoping I don’t hit any major traffic lest my natural air conditioning stops working (did I mention it’s hot in Nashville?). Fortunately, Nashville isn’t nearly like Chicago and I flew through the city, with more then enough time on my hands. Which is good because I missed the exit and had to cross the big river in Nashville before I got to the next exit to turn around.

I end up getting near the place still an hour before my interview time, so I’ve got a little time to kill (I wanted to show up about 20mins early to fill out the application they had). I figure it’s a business area so they should have a cafe or something, I don’t need coffee, I need air conditioning! I drive slowly from the place and can’t find a coffee shop or anything around. I’m getting really hot when I see the oasis in the desert, Kroger! (it’s a grocery store for all you northerners). I park the car and go inside. I’m sweating which is not good. So I randomly stroll through the frozen foods section, stopping at each door and holding it open while I stare at a TV dinner and ready the health content (they aren’t really that bad actually). After about 20 freezer doors I’ve cooled down and am feeling quite fresh. I had back to the interview (Which is at Second Harvest Food Bank), and start filling out the application.

(note: Originally written my sophmore year of college in January 2003)
Continued from part VI (part V, part IV, part III, part II and part I)

Try and imagine that nothing you have ever taken for granted in your belief system is true. What am I trying to say? We look at scripture through a lens, that lens is our American society, our peers, our neighbors. That is not the lens through which we are to be looking at the Holy Scriptures. Rather we are to be looking at the text from the same perspective that we get from the text. We are to give, give, give. We sing about it in songs all the time, but some how in our rationalist, emotionalist type of society we can somehow sing those words offering in a sense our entire lives up to Christ, walk out the door and go about our life exactly how we want to. What really though does it mean to give it all up for Christ? The rich man was to sell everything. Another was not to go home even to bury his father. Maybe in our pleasure oriented (And please don’t think I’m saying pleasure is a bad thing) society, what we need to be giving up is those things which we and the society about us tells us, and believes is pleasurable. What if we were to give up drinking alcohol, completely. Not because alcohol is inherently bad or wrong in anyway, in fact it is God given and for our enjoyment, Jesus drank wine and even made wine from water. But, by drinking water and not alcohol we save X amount of dollars which we can give to those who do not even have bread, let alone clean drink. Even greater, what would it tell our neighbors when they see we can have just as much fun without alcohol? You might be saying, well they don’t see it that way. They see Christians not drinking as a command they have to follow or they will go to hell and they see Christians as stuck-up and holier-than-thou because of it. Maybe, so let us take this concept to things we never really think of. What if you choose not to go see movies in the theater? Not because there is anything inherently wrong with movies, or theaters (although many movies today feed a visual stream of images that leads us to anything but godliness). Rather, again it saves finances that can go to those who don’t even know the concept of entertainment, because their days are filled with the overwhelming desire for food. In addition, it would again show our neighbors there is something oddly different about us. It might say to them that we don’t need to escape in the action or drama or love of a movie to experience those feelings and emotions and longings of our human nature. Now, before I move any further I need to point something out. These assumptions that your neighbor will wonder what is different about you are based on the assumption that you yourself our still happy with out watching movies, without drinking alcohol, without a nice new car. It’s easy to say God is what truly makes you happy when your life is full of material blessings which you enjoy everyday, but is it really God that makes you happy or the things he gives you? Do you still feel empty sometimes? And have you ever felt down on yourself because you are sort of depressed and you feel ashamed because you have all this stuff and tons of other people don’t so you should be happy and feel blessed. Maybe the point is that stuff has nothing to do with the happiness thing at all. Maybe it’s that you somehow mistook the stuff God gave you for the place where you would find happiness. But rather God meant for you to have happiness in Him and experience the joy of that happiness in giving those things which you have been given to others. Who knows?

(This is the end of this series. Not because it’s complete, it’s just that’s as far as I got my sophomore year)

Awesome video about how the internet works

It’s Hard being me. I can relate

Water

Another little piece of scraps of writing from way back when. Who knows, maybe this will turn into a story…

Honest stands on the street corner. To the left across the street a beaten down building with a tacky neon sign, “House of Thrills Adult Bookstore.” To the right the base line of a rock song emanates from an old church. It’s morning, the man’s head still throbs from a mix of alcohol and experiences he can’t quite recall at the moment. He went for a walk to clear his head; the frigid air clearing away depressed thoughts of past experiences he’d like to forget. Now his hands were cold and the alcohol was finally hitting his bladder.

On almost any other weekend he would have struck out to the left, used the restroom and then spent a few inconspicuous minutes browsing the shelves, pretending to be not overly interested. Today, today was different, and for whatever reason he turned right.

In the not too far distance the city skyline with big skyscrapers, sat gloomy and quiet. The streets littered with cups and papers from the revelries of the evening before.

The Church entrance was up a short set of stairs and as Honest climbed the steps he could feel the draft of warm air rushing through the doors. That’s what he would do too, rush out with the warm air, as soon as he used the restroom and got some free coffee. If there was one thing Honest had learned about church it was that it was a great place to get free coffee. Coffee and beer, two things Honest would show up for if you were just giving it out at a party. A lady greeted him at the door. She was young, maybe late twenties, short brown hair, and a smile that seemed plastered to her face. “Hi, welcome to our church. My name is Joan. Here’s a program, let me know if you have any questions.” At least she hadn’t asked him any questions, Honest wasn’t looking forward to trying to answer them. Before he could reply with “yeah, where’s the restroom?” Joan was already greeting the next folks coming through the door, and Honest hurried along trying to stay out of the way.

Looking around he spotted the coffee first and decided his bladder could wait…

To Be Continued, maybe.