Reflections Of A White Boy

For the last month I have been reflecting, and wrapping my mind around the hate that can stem from the human heart toward another. How does one get to the point where they would be willing to kill someone else based on race? What does that process look like? Did it just happen overnight? Did they wake up one morning and decide I am going to hate a race of people with every fiber in me?

My heart and mind have been on this journey. I have been exploring parts of my own heart concerning race and as I have engaged this issue I have come to some conclusions but to be honest I have a lot more questions than I do answers concerning the matter of racism.

This is my story and my learning experiences. I encourage everyone to enter their own journey of exploration. This is just my story - what is yours?

The first time I started asking questions about race was in Englewood, Chicago. The year was 01' I was in college and moved into a mission that was working in the neighborhood of Englewood. I was undergoing an urban studies program for the summer. So here I am this small town white boy in a big city and nothing is familiar - it was safe to say I was out of my comfort zone. Englewood was notorious for being a rough neighborhood with the highest homicide rate. The neighborhood was a low income neighborhood and around 95% of the people in the area were African-American.

The first day of my internship at a local after school program I got a first hand education on life. I got on a bus feeling a little out of place. The neighborhood had a lot of gang activity, the school system was run down, their weren't a lot of high paying jobs but their were a lot of liquor stores. Over the next few months I asked a lot of questions: Where is the hope for the people living in Englewood? How can one get off welfare if they have a poor education if any and no real paying jobs? I started to see things a little different.

My perspective went from a THEM mentality to a WE mentality. I started to feel that if they don't succeed than I don't succeed.

See this is opposite of everything I ever heard growing up. I heard that the people in the "ghetto" were lazy that's why they couldn't get out of their situation.

It is easy to make generalizations and point fingers when you have never lived in the situations the people in Englewood face daily. I started to realize I had racist tendencies and stereotypes that had been built up over the years.

My views started to shift when THEY became people with names, people with stories.

Fast forward to present day. I spent an afternoon in downtown Birmingham at the civil rights museum. As I walked through the institute I was broken by how much hatred, ignorance, and oppression there was. How can someone hate someone so much?

As I walked through the park across the street I saw a statue of two teens getting sprayed by fire hoses. I wondered what was racing through their mind that day. I also thought about how these young teens were probably still alive today and what would they have to say now.

In world war 2 the nazis setup concentration camps to eliminate Jews, Gypsy's, and many other minorities. I was watching this clip from Band of Brothers where the soldiers are liberating one of these camps. They thought the men were prisoners of some kind and soon discovered that they were musicians, teachers, tailors who were Jewish.

So how did this happen. It started with jokes. Blame. Discrimination. It was a process of hate.

The sad thing as I watched the clip I realized that some of those soldiers would go back to the states and see the same thing happening here and not make the connection. African-Americans were being treated in a similar way but we justified it.

We have come a long way. There is still a long way to go though.
Just after the election I heard someone say they were going to throw an assassination party. We still have a long way to go.

Hate is harder when the race becomes a name and the name becomes a story, and the story relates to ours.

Grace and Peace to you all.

The big idea: What kind of world do you want to live in? What does the end product look like? Now, how can you be part of the solution?

WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE

THE FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH VERTIGO IS GOING TO HOST WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE.  WE ARE GOING TO HAVE FREE FOOD, LIVE SKITS, MUSIC, VIDEOS, AND V.I.P. SEATING FOR THE PERSON THAT BRING THE MOST NEW FRIENDS.  THE EVENT STARTS AT 6:15 AT THE CHURCH AT TUSCALOOSA [6120 watermelon road].  HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.  

Perspective Addition 2

S.H.A.P.E. Notes

1cor 12:6 “God works through different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purpose through them all.”

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Read 1 corinthians 12

Read Romans 12

God has given us gifts to serve others - they are to be used in love to benefit others.  I would encourage you to take a spiritual gifts test.  The only way to grow in your gift and discover you gifts is to step out and serve.

HEART

What tugs at your emotional strings?  Is it poverty, injustice, racism, abuse, divorce, etc.  The goal is to identify what you are passionate.  What you want to see changed in this world.  God has put that passion in your heart for a reason.

ABILITIES

We all have abilities that come pretty natural to us.  

Whether it is designing, building, speaking, organizing, music, etc.  What are you abilities?  

PERSONALITY
How you relate to others:
Outgoing------------------X------------Reserved
Self-Expressive -------X-------Self-Controlled
Cooperative------X------Competitive
How your relate to opportunities:
High Risk ------X------Low Risk
People Driven -----X-----Project Driven
Follow----X-----Lead
Team----X-----Solo
Routine----X-----Variety

EXPERIENCES
2 corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Story of Joseph Gen 37-50
Betrayed by brothers ---> Rose to become 2nd most powerful in Egypt
Sold into slavery ----> Saved the lives of millions during famine
Thrown into prison -----> Never forgot that God was in Control

Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

STRENGTHS

We are taught that we are all to be really well rounded people.  People with no weaknesses.  The reality is that you will never become great at what you are weak at - you may become descent.  You will grow the most in the areas of your strengths.  When you bring the report card home maybe you have 5 A's and a D.  Where do we want to focus our energies?  You guessed it the D.  Maybe we need to start paying attention to what we are strong at and focus our time in those areas.

Throughout the week identify the times when you felt energized doing something.  Where time flew by.  Then write it down whatever you were doing.  Start to see patterns, be specific.

Now you can be good at something and it not be a strength.  Weakness is anything you do that after doing it you feel drained.  Not just because of physical exhaustion - you feel drained.

8 out of 10 people don't like what they do and don't use there strengths daily.

Sarah Klinedinst: My Story

Here is Sarah's story that we put on video. Great job Sarah we are so proud of you.

S.H.A.P.E.

What is your unique God given shape?  

Over the course of the last 5 weeks we have looked at:

Spiritual Gifts

Heart

Abilities

Personality

Experiences

In the next couple days I will post the notes from this last month and post them for you to refer back to.

$450 in change

Vertigo raised loose change in the month of October.  The students were able to raise $450 in one month just by collecting loose change.  The money is donated to Blood Water Mission and is used to dig wells for clean drinking water in Africa.  Great Job.