What To Do?

Well first let me apologize for the lack of posts lately. I just haven't felt it lately. This is a rare post for this blog, an actual update on my life.

1) I have been accepted to grad school at UAB (Birmmingham) and SMSU. I am still waiting to hear back from Hunter College in NYC.

There is a dilema in which school to choose. UAB is the best place to work in civil rights history, but I still have a strong desire to be in NYC and with Shiloh.

Right now, I think Hunter would be a better choice because I could really make strong connections with the college and other CUNY schools that might give me a head start in finding a teaching position after i'm done which would give me the financial security I need. There is also pleanty of history in NYC that I can research.

2) I am going back to Shiloh for a 6th summer. In the eyes of many this may seem like a crazy or even stupid decision. But I am just trying to live out the will of God the best I can. For me, I find the will of God in the upside down kingdom in the Gospel. If I want to be rich, I need to become poor. If I want to live, I need to die to myself. If I want to be wise, I will look like a fool to the world.

Besides, I've crossed the point of no return with Shiloh. I've seen too much and experienced too much to go on living as I did before and pretend like it never happened. Shiloh isn't a job or a vacation; it is a part of me. I believe there are many pieces to the puzzle that make up the purpose for my life, but Shiloh is a huge piece of that puzzle.

A wife? Having kids? A nice 401K plan? These are all great pieces to the puzzle, but these are not certain for me. What is certain is that I will be directly involved with Shiloh for years to come. What is certain is that through God in Shiloh we transform the children which will then transform their parents which will then lead to the biggest chain reaction the world have ever seen.

Anyway that's an update on my life. I would greatly appreciate any comments on thoughts on choosing a school or Shiloh.

As for more thought provoking posts. Stay tuned.


CJE

Read more...

The Sins Of Segregation

A familiar sign in the Bible Belt

This week's post, a week late I apologize, is another critique on the unique and bizarre culture that is the Bible Belt. Last week I went to visit my brother in Nashville, TN where he attends school at Lipscomb University. Everytime I visit the city I am reminded of how much Nashville is unlike any place in the world. Driving throught the metro area you see these huge million dollar homes with these huge plantaion-like yards. Even more crazy is to see people putting on room additions that houses that already too big. Another stark reminder when I visit Nashville is the vast racial divide that still exists in the Bible Belt. My visit to Lipscomb sparked an interest to learn about the desegregation of Church of Christ schools like ACU, Harding and Lipscomb.

The landmark decision of Brown vs. Board of Education came in 1954. ACU was the first of the three CoC schools to desegregate, but it didn't happen until 1965 which was more than ten years after the Brown decision. Let me say that again....10 years later. Not 10 days, not 10 weeks, but 10 years later. Sadly, Lipscomb was one of the last schools to intergrate in 1967 (13 years after Brown). Some will say that since CoC schools are private institutions, then they were not obligated to comply right away with the court's ruling. Segregation is not a matter of private or public, but of right and wrong.

What is even more amazing that it wasn't until 1999 that ACU president Royce Money issued a public apology for its practice of segregation. 1999!! Not 1000 B.C. or 1000 A.D., but at the verge of the 21st century in 1999 A.D. It took two thousand years for a group of Christians to realize that segregation was a sinful and evil practice. A group that seemed to disregard passages like Gal 3:26-28, "26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." How much clearer can it be? Are we that dense?

Sadly not much has changed in the Bible belt. Segregation in the Bible Belt is no longer enforced, but chosen. Both sides of the divide now choose to segregate from each other and the consequences will be felt by generations to come. The end result will lead one into the ignorance of thinking that everybody looks like, thinks like and acts like themselves. It is time to realize that race, not culture, is a fictional construct created by society which is no more real than Santa Claus. One can't escape their culture, but one can transcend their race. No? Well then ask yourself if one has ever been discriminated because of their eye color? Absolutely not and it's because eye color doesn't make anyone more skilled or special than the next person. The same is true for skin color. It is time to deny the lie that there are many different races and acknowledge the truth that there is only one race and that is the human race.

CJE


Coming next week: My Concept of Marriage

Read more...