A Year Ago

 A year ago, we were sent home from work for two weeks or possibly three. When I went to the grocery store that evening to get food for two weeks, the shelves were empty. The entire produce section was empty. I don’t think people knew that fresh vegetables and fruit have a short lifespan. Toilet paper was like buying gold because it was nowhere to be found. That makes sense because the grocery store shelves were empty. 

I love being outside of my home. I have sat in coffee shops to grade papers and to write. We were sent home to stay home. Restaurants and coffee shops were closing. Our churches would all have to be online. I would have to work while actually being at home. I thought I could grade papers and watch the college basketball tournament. Then, they cancelled the basketball tournament. I knew then that life would change and some old habits would be just that, old. 

Los Angeles is one of the last cities in America to reopen. This week for the first time in a year, we will be able to dine indoors, go to the gym indoors, and go to an indoor movie theater. I have become appreciative of the little things in life. I have become appreciative of my home and family. This last year has not been easy, but we never learn when the tasks are easy, and there were some valuable lessons that we should have learned in this last year, but if we want life to be easy and catered to our own desires, we might miss them. 

Lesson #1: We need to think of others over ourselves. I may not like wearing a mask, but I don’t wear it for me, but for those around me who truly fear this virus. Screaming in their face, even on social media, that they are wrong and stupid is not helpful. In fact, it’s wrong and not Christ-like. We need to also take care of our elderly…all of us. We need to look out for our neighbors and not hoard. That’s all part of putting others over ourselves. It’s not that we don’t love ourselves. Once we love ourselves, we are able to love others, even those that think and believe differently than us. 

Lesson #2: Homeschooling is not as easy as everyone thinks. If you are a parent, student, teacher, or person with children who did not have to do any type of distance learning, you have no idea what the struggle is. (If that is you, refer back to #1.)  I honestly thought I would love to teach online, until I actually had to do it. Maybe I would enjoy teaching kids who are used to being homeschooled, have Wi-Fi and will have their cameras on at all times, but Zoom School is horrible. I am a proponent for equity in education. Along with social promotion, Zoom School is another inequity for our most vulnerable students who need equity in education. So, to my friends who have homeschooled their children and succeeded, you are part of my list of heroes. 

Lesson #3: Taking walks around our neighborhoods can be a great experience. While on walks, I have prayed, discovered solutions to my problems, and met people from my neighborhood. Even in the city, I have discovered God’s beauty in his creation with some fabulous sunsets. God’s creation is all around us. We just have to take the time to recognize it. 

Lesson #4: Art is essential. Whether our art consists of actual painting, drawing, writing, singing, or playing an instrument, or if it is in the form of movies, television, or books, cooking, baking, knitting, or sewing, art is an essential when we are locked in our homes. Many people did not just sit back and watch art that was made, but actually created art and are beginning to see the fruits of their labor. As God is our creator, we can deduct that he is a creator of art and proponent for us to create and enjoy art. 

Lesson #5: Church is not a building. Church is a body of believers that gather together, whether they are in an official building or not. We do not GO to church. We ARE the church and we GO to the world and bring the church to the world, even if going means we go virtually. Believe it or not, the church stepped up while most people were complaining on social media about politics. One church in Los Angeles, (Dream Center) stepped up and made sure that all of the students in the school district of Los Angeles, that serves over 600,000 students, had meals that they would miss because of school closures. They also provided supplies to families because the stores were empty. Churches served and most were unknown because most of us were more concerned of arguing whether or not the virus was real or not. Maybe, the church should be less concerned about politics and become more visible in the community and step up to serve the needs of the community. Then we will all discover that the church is not a building and is essential to the community. 

Overall, we learned that we need to love God (nature), love others, and ourselves. Love. Love is what we hopefully learned is what the world needs. We don’t need all the junk we discuss on social media, but we need love. We need the kind of love that Jesus has. For those of us who have it, we need to share it. For this next year, let us show this love and see where we are in a year from now. 

For the Love of Books

 In the 1980s, when I was in high school, we had a list of books that we were not allowed to read. They were banned. The church or the conservative right had banned them, as they deemed them inappropriate either for subject material or what they deemed to have inappropriate language. Many of those who banned them never read those books, but those same people thought that they needed to control what I put into my mind, so that I would think properly, which is how they think. It doesn’t work that way. It makes us curious as to why it is banned and it makes us angry that we are being forced to think a certain way. 

Fast forward to the 1990s and the explosion of Harry Potter. Again, the church deemed this book inappropriate because of its content. The book did not suffer in sales; it exploded with more sales. Dear Church, we should have noticed in the 1990s that a shift was occurring in our culture, but we didn’t. We were too focused on trying to control everything that everyone does or thinks. It doesn’t work that way. It makes people angry and plot revenge. 

It is now 2021 and those young people that the church tried to control their thoughts and actions are adults. They are now trying to control our thoughts and actions with cancelling what they deem inappropriate. I’m not saying they are wrong, but since I have grown away from other people controlling me, I find it disheartening. The conservative right is screaming about what cancel culture is cancelling, but when you start trying to control others, it will boomerang out of control. 

As a Christian, I do not want to force people to come to Jesus. Jesus invites people to Him. If a person chooses to follow Jesus, then he or she will allow Jesus to work in their life and not try to please the person who forced them to come to Jesus. The same goes with our moral laws. I cannot force anyone to follow the values in my life. I cannot fix or change anyone. I can inspire others to make the best choices to have a great life, and with my age and years of experience, I hope and pray that they will make the right choices, but I cannot force them. Therein lies the problem.  

Christians are angry that life is changing and that some people in our country are deeming products, including books, inappropriate. They are forcing us to believe and think a certain way. They are only doing what the church did first. How many Christians made it public why they were cancelling Netflix? Now, the tables have turned with Dr. Seuss, and the conservative right are angry. (By the way, I get it. The publishing company took six books out of print because they were inappropriate and Dr. Seuss is not cancelled. I just had to be graphic. They do this to a thousand books a day. For everyone that wrote that last sentence on their social media posts, thanks for the continual discouragement for a writer.) What we start, someone has to finish. Maybe, the Church should lead the way and stop cancelling. I wish we would. 

Art is subjective. What one person deems inappropriate in art, another person sees the depth of the meaning of it. What one person calls cheesy, another person sees it as the greatest work of art ever. Since art is subjective, we must be understanding that maybe, just maybe, we do not know everything and just reading a passage from the book out of context could be extremely dangerous, and it happens all the time. The Bible gets taken out of context all the time from both Christians and non-Christians. 

It is from books that I have gained an understanding of life that is different from mine. It is from books that I discovered the truth of the inequity in education that is occurring in the twenty-first century. I have come to understand the importance of helping people in need because I have read incredible stories in books. I have understood a culture different from mine because I have read incredible stories in books. I have understood what is racist to do or say because of incredible books in the nonfiction department. Some of these books have been deemed inappropriate by people either inside of the church and even those outside of the church. People who do not read, should not have a say to what happens to books, which means we need to read more. Christians need to be readers. 

There are a couple of books that I would deem inappropriate because of my beliefs, but I cannot demand that they get banned or even just taken out print. Why? Then they will come for the books that I love, including the Bible. It is time we start having conversations. Books can start the conversations, but they cannot be the final word in the conversation. We have to have real conversations with real people, not on social media. You know what? We’ll still get different perspectives because that is how God created all of us to be. He created all of us to think and choose for ourselves. 

What if the church stopped trying to control people and became a place for people to heal? My conclusion would be that we would be overflowing with Christians in our society. We do not need to control, fix, or change people. We need to pray for people to come to Jesus and allow Jesus, who is much mightier than a human being, do the changing in their lives. I bet He’ll do a much better job. 

For the love of books, we have to stop with cancelling, and banning. They will come for you. When they do, remember, you could have read about it somewhere. May we pick up books this week that will cause us to think. May we read stories through the eyes of those who deem it inappropriate, and then maybe, we will begin to understand that other people have different beliefs and thoughts than us. It is my hope and prayer that my students will have access to all books. It is my desire that they can read and understand all books, but that is a very different subject for a different blog. 

Look for and Become the Helper

 

Mr. Rodgers was known for saying to children that in a tragedy, look for the helpers. This last week the nation looked on in horror at the tragedy that occurred in Texas. Many people tweeted about all the politicians, both good and bad. People even went to social media and reminded people the importance of voting. You know what? When my power is out in below freezing temperatures and my water is out or pipes burst and flood my home, I don’t need a vote. Voting is good, but much more needs to be done, and Texans did the much more this last week. Texans stepped up and became helpers to one another. 

Many Texans brought people together in their homes if they had generators and could keep their house warm. Individual plumbers went to homes and fixed broken pipes for free. People gave out money for other people to have enough cash in the grocery stores. A church in Austin has opened up its doors as a food pantry. They may not have running water, but they have donations of food, diapers, and bottled water. Neighbors checked on neighbors. Let us not forget the owner of the mattress store who opened up his store to shelter 300 people with food, warm dry clothes, and a comfortable place to rest. 

I wonder if Mr. Rodgers told children to look for helpers in a tragedy because he hoped one day they would become the helpers. No one who is helping someone in a tragedy stops and asks that person for whom they voted or are concerned with their religious beliefs or their ethnicity. In a tragedy, we are all humans at that point and our differences are pushed aside, which is why it is so important that many of us take a break from just typing our opinions on social media and begin getting to work. People have been working and serving since the beginning of the pandemic. When we serve, we do not have time to criticize or cancel people on social media. In fact, we begin to choose what we do on social media and our mental state becomes healthier. 

When we serve others, we forget about our own struggles, if even just for a few hours. I remember serving in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina hit. Many places did not have power. We gutted homes. We fixed up a church to be a dormitory that would house volunteers in the summer. It was a week where I didn’t think of myself. For one whole week, I focused on the needs of others and remembered the blessings that God had given me. 

It almost sounds like a selfish reason to serve to get mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy, but serving others is not just about the other person. It is about using our voice, our hands, our talents and gifts for the good of others. Serving others makes our souls healthier. It is what makes us human again. 

In the movie, Beauty and the Beast, those living in the castle wanted to be human again so they could serve. Even in their states of not being human, they did everything they could to serve. Their lives were not complete because the prince gave them praise, but because they were able to serve. Our lives become complete when we serve others. 

With the pandemic and many places closed in Los Angeles, I had to discover ways to serve others. Whether it is a text message, a phone call, or writing an encouraging post on social media or giving money and supplies, serving others is always beneficial to our overall health. Maybe it is why so many in the medical field do not get as sick physically as those of us outside of the medical field. In any of our workplaces, once we see our jobs as places of service, we become mentally and emotionally healthier. 

So, as we pray and think about solutions for those in Texas, we can also discover ways we can serve those in our own communities. Many people may not be able to give of their finances, but all of us can give of our time. When we fully open again as a country, we will notice there are changes. There will be changes because people served. If we notice that our communities are not better, then it will be time that we roll up our sleeves and get to work. It’s the Texan way. It’s the American way. More importantly, it’s the humankind way. Let’s not just look for the helpers, let us be the helpers. 

You Are Who You Support

 I saw the Twitter post, “Who you support is who you are,” and even though it was referring to a political pundit with a clear agenda to insult and create division, I saw it as an opportunity that since it was not given context, to take it to a place in which it was not intended. When we drop statements without full context and our desire is to hurt, we open doors for people to find empowerment instead of insults. It is how I am deciding to do 2021.

If who I support is who I am, then I am a 2020 World Series Champion, a five-time college basketball champion, a college basketball coach with over a thousand wins, and I am an All-Valley karate champion with a dojo with the best name. I have never played on a sports team or taken any sports lessons, but if someone on Twitter is going to drop the claim that I am who I support, then I am claiming the greatness of those I support without doing anything, which is the exact opposite of who I support.

Being a sports fan or a fan of a movie series or television series is much different than being an elite athlete or a talented actor, writer, director, or producer. Many people today claim greatness without actually getting off their couches and doing something. They hide behind their computer screens and post on social media as if they are changing the world one post at a time. These same people also are great at pointing out the flaws of those who achieve greatness. What they do not know or understand, is that in order to be great, you have to fail. For those of us who support greatness, we have supported those who are great in their failures. 

In order to be great, you have to get off of the couch and act. In order to fail, we have to attempt something great and recognize what we need to do to make that feat great. In other words, in order to be great, we have to fail. Greatness does not come to us overnight. It is a lifelong thread of failures. Many great people have failed and today, social media loves to post their failures, but at least they did something. It’s easy to sit back and criticize. It’s difficult to get up and do something brave and great, but it must be done and it will be done. If we do not get up and do the great deed, someone else will, and we will flounder in our apathy.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Some people will support a certain team or player. Others will support a commercial. Whether we support a team or not, the outcome will not be because of our support. Whether we support a product or not, the product will be advertised for millions to see during this event. So, whether we support people or not, we are not who we support because our support cannot change what someone does or does not do. 

As I trod through this life I want to attempt feats of greatness. I will fail. You know what? It’s fine that people will throw their insults at me with my failures because at least I got up off the couch and did something. I refuse to remain apathetic. I want to do great feats that make a difference in this world. If it is through my writing, or speaking, or teaching, I hope I make great strides as I take on the disciplines that my great sports teams and television show has. 

Let us all rise and take risks and do great feats to make a difference in this world. No political person is going to change and save us. Great feats come from ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds that make a difference. Will we fail? Absolutely. As we fail, we will learn from our failures as it is the only way we will be great. 

So, my support for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Duke Blue Devils basketball team, and the television show Cobra Kai are here to stay. Yes, even with Duke’s abysmal season this year, I’m still faithful. Faithfulness leads to greatness. I will learn from these great organizations and apply their great habits to my life. Go ahead Social Media people and judge. I choose to live, act, and strive for greatness. I hope others will join me because it’s more fun than sitting on my computer and bashing those of us who are making the attempts to be great and learn from every failure we make along the way. 

Hiding Behind Our Screens of Perfection

 I have heroes. My heroes are unlike superheroes. My heroes have flaws and sins and make mistakes; however, their greatness far outshines their flaws, except on social media. Recently, a hero of mine was attacked for not having the perfect words after a disappointing moment in his life. I do not worship this hero, but I do respect him. Twitter went a flutter because of the words he spewed. He’s a great coach. He is the only coach in college basketball to have over 1,000 wins. He’s written a book on leadership. His super power is his leadership skills that inspires his players to win. He’s not a perfect human being. In fact, his words were not that degrading, but when perfect people look for a flaw, they will attack whatever we do or say as it was the worst thing in the world, and their flaws and sins are never revealed. Therein lies the problem. 

When we are so focused on pointing out the flaws and sins of others, we hide our own sins and flaws. I know because I have done that most of my Christian life. With social media, it has become much easier to hide. We hide behind our screens and present a perfect life. if we do have a flaw or make a mistake, we cover it up with pointing out the flaws of someone else. If someone else looks horrible, our own flaws do not look so bad. It is a bad choice and one that most of us make, especially on social media. 

There are people in the Bible that made this same choice. They are the Pharisees and other religious leaders. They would walk around and point out the flaws of other people, while at the same time committing the same sins or wrongs that their victims would never think of committing. I would love to demean this kind of perfection, but I cannot because I have done the exact same thing. We all hide so that people will not think less of us. in reality, those who think highly of us would like to see how we handle those mistakes and flaws. 

To be fair, no one wants to read anyone’s own sins or flaws on social media. We do want to see the good. We can all decide for ourselves when a person with some fame says something if the words are evil or not. We do not need thousands of people to inform us of how horrible someone is. I do not want to see the bad in people. I know my heroes and their flaws. That’s why they are my heroes. I know how they have overcome their flaws and risen above them to accomplish the great feats that they have done. 

The reason why people want to expose the flaws of those who have accomplished amazing feats is because they believe that if they bring others down, it will build them up. Maybe they cannot act in a film or coach a basketball team, but they can fold their laundry. Sorry, but when we point out the flaws of others who are using their gifts and talents to the fullest, we are revealing that we have yet to accomplish the fullness of our gifts and talents, including myself. 

As we enter the second month of the year 2021, I have decided to revisit my goals for the New Year. I want to be better. I want to do better. I want to work on me and improve myself. It will start with not judging others for their flaws and working on my gifts and talents. Once I focus on me, I do not have time or energy to focus on others. I want to inspire others and have others inspire me. I know everyone is flawed, but I am going to choose to see the good in others. February is the month of love. Maybe we can begin to show and give love and then we will be open to receive it. 

Run Away or Stay?

 There are two major responses to fear. We either fight or take flight. For most of my life I have been the person to take flight. If trouble was brewing, I ran away. If I sensed that if I stayed where I was that I would encounter hardships, I ran. Unfortunately, I did not run from relationships in which I should have run the moment I saw a red flag. I did not run from unhealthy workplaces. I would always run from that which I could face and fight. I ran because I was afraid that people would be disappointed in me. I always stayed when I could not fight because I was afraid of what people would think if I took flight. I had to learn to fight or flight with God not with people’s opinions. 

It has taken maturity and strength to recognize when I should stay and when I should take flight. It has also taken the fact that I have purposely surrounded myself with Christians who believe that we must stay where we are needed the most to present the Gospel and not hide in our little Christian caves. Most of my life, I have hidden in that Christian cave, even as I have lived in Los Angeles, California. Those Christian caves can be built anywhere, and they are very dangerous to our faith. I know because I recognized that when I crawled out of it. 

When I resided in the Christian cave, I was unaware of the negative influence that I had become for Christ. It was never my intention to exclude people or to make people feel inferior because they did not believe in Christ or did not reside in the Christian cave with me, but it is exactly what had occurred. Throughout my Christian life, I was encouraged to reside in the Christian cave because people believed that those who were outside of it would influence me to walk away from Christ. The irony is that it was from within the cave that my faith waivered. 

Within the cave, I received criticism and a list of rules that I had to abide by in order to thrive as a Christian. It is within the cave that I believed the term to become a “better Christian.” I have recently recoiled from that term to become a better human being and represent Christ. Christianity is not a competition, so I don’t know what a “better” Christian looks like. As a Christian, I am to replicate the attitude and actions of Christ, not of a person. Unfortunately, it took me years to recognize that much of my Christian beliefs were built on people that I thought were “better” Christians, instead of my faith being built on Christ who is the best.

So, I stepped out of the cave and entered a world where I need to influence people. I am always learning how to speak both in-person and online. I am trying to have intelligent conversations with people with whom I disagree. I don’t want to run away from those who do not believe in Jesus. I do not want to run away from those who vote differently from me. I do not want to run away from those who may commit immoral acts that I have not committed, but have committed my fair share of immoral acts with my own sins.  I want to stay and fight the good fight of faith. 

In recent weeks, I have recognized that people who are Christians want to run into caves. Some caves are filled with Christians. Some caves are filled with people who are Christians and because they voted differently than those in the other cave, they feel that they are superior to them and refuse to communicate with them. Both caves are filled with “better” Christians. I have been in both caves, and I no longer reside in a cave. I am out among the people. I have discovered that we all want great things for our country, our states, our cities, our communities, and our churches. 

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18) Jesus said. “Go.” He did not say stay separate. Some of us need to gently and in love teach how to represent Christ well. We can only do that with humility and confess our own mistakes and sins. We need to lead and not run away. Others of us, need to stop running away from social media sites that do not have just “Christian” values, but sites that need Christians to stay and encourage others. We just may need to be aware of how we say our words of truth in love and realize that Jesus is so much bigger and better than any political figure or political party or agenda. 

It is my hope and desire that for the first time in a long time, Christians will stop running away. Christians please stay and fight the good fight. “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” Christians have run away from Hollywood and scream that it is immoral. Christians have run away from large cities and claim that they are evil. Christians have run away from public schools and universities and claim that they are void of God. Christians let us stand together and not make another mistake. Let us stay on social media where Jesus is needed. We have all sinned. No sin is greater. It is time we love those whose sins are different than our own. Be love. Be the light. Let us come out of the caves and stop running and stay. It won’t be easy, comfortable, or safe, but it will be well done. 

The Pen IS Mightier Than the Sword

 I have tried unsuccessfully to write what my thoughts were about the terrorist attack on the capitol of the United States of America. I was angry and ashamed that people believe that violence is the answer to all of the world’s problems. People may not like the outcome of any election, but that just means that we, as citizens, need to become better and stronger servants in our communities. Since that horrific event, I have learned that many of the people were gathered and angry because of posts on social media sites. Don’t get me wrong. I love the way social media has kept me connected to old friends and new friends, but it has also made me realize that what we write on social media can have more power than we know. 

If you have been on social media for any amount of time, you have probably offended someone and someone has offended you. I know when I hit people too hard with my words, I get frustrated with myself and try to correct the wrong. I do like to have serious conversations with my friends on social media because I have smart friends, but when I try to have a serious conversation, people bring out their pens with sharp points and begin stabbing people. I have always known that I could write my way in or out of anything. I think many people on social media think that they can too. Social media has exposed the fact that many people who feel they are not heard can spew their thoughts with a few strokes of a keyboard. 

Words are powerful. What we write can contain more power than what we say because we do not always see the intent of the words that we write. One of the reasons the Bible is powerful is because the words are written. One of the reasons the Bible is misinterpreted is because many who read it do not understand the intent or read it out of context. As Christians, we must write our social media posts so that our words have power and yet, do not bring hurt to others. We must convey the context with love. The apostles were able to do that as they wrote their letters in the Bible. They knew that the pen was stronger than any speech or sword because the written word lasts forever. 

Some Christians are upset that what they post politically is being blocked on social media sites. We have freedom of speech, but a private organization can restrict our speech. Social media websites have the freedom to restrict what we post on the Internet. We may not like the restrictions, but that doesn’t mean that they cannot exist. Every time I submit my writing, I have perimeters and restrictions.  People are suffering. They need health and help, not harm. What we write on the Internet is there forever. I have discovered that I need to be careful with what I write. 

In the Bible, James talks about our speech. He uses the metaphor of a forest fire to the words that we put out in the universe. Our words can damage people and a whole community for a very long time. Our words can also inspire and challenge people and a whole community. I think of the power of the words Martin Luther King Jr. put out and his words have inspired and changed many people. We have to choose which we are going to do. Are we going to help our hurt? 

People state that we need to speak the truth. The Bible states to speak the truth in love. Love prefers to be kind than right. Love does not belittle people or call them names. Love shows empathy and compassion. Love gives solutions. Love heals. 

I have made my word for the year 2021, “Fearless.” I want to be fearless in my writing, but I want my pen to be a mighty sword that brings healing and not harm. I know I’ll mess up and I know that I’ll have to revisit this blog for myself. I also want the church to rise up and become the leaders we need to be in America. We need to not be so concerned about politics and more concerned about how we bring Jesus to others. We can start a forest fire with our words. May we start a fire with words that are encouraging and challenging and inspiring instead of words that are burning down communities. People are reading our words. May we strike first, strike hard, and have mercy with our words that we write, so that our swords will be powerful in bringing the Gospel to the world.