Think Virtue!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

disABLED

It was crunch time, finals were hitting me heavy when I was working on a story for my newswriting class last year about Northeastern University students with disabilites. As I was sitting in the lobby of the Disability Resource Center waiting for a crucial interview with someone from the office, I picked up a magazine called Careers & the disABLED and started browsing through it. There was something special about how they lettered the work disabled. They used lowercase letters on the 'dis' part and caps on the 'ABLED' part. It was a smart and quick way to get this point across: "Don't focus on what you can't do. Channel your energy on what you CAN do!" That really stuck with me. It's amazing how the lettering of one simple word can express so much.

Sometimes I wonder if God is trying to reach out to us like that. What words is He trying to make us see in a different light? What things in our lives is He trying to captialize?

Maybe God wants us to focus on being CHRISTians instead of us trying to be cool and getting our own way. Or maybe God wants us have compassion for pornSTARS who are being misused and mistreated when they were created to shine for Christ.

I won't pretend like I have it all together because I don't. God knows it, I know it, my family knows and if you met me you'd know it too. But I cling to this promise: "in my weakness He is strong" and "His strength is made perfect in weakness".

I'm quite fine with Jesus being the function in my dysFUNCTION. He loves me and I understand that spiritual maturity is a journey.

II Corinthians 12:9-10: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Jesus and the Journalist

Nothing good comes out of Detroit, right? Well, at least not since the Motown era. Unfortunately these days Detroit is known for three things: The Pistons (or Tigers if you're a baseball fan), layoffs (courtesty of Ford and GM) and Eminem's infamous 8 Mile. And to top off the Motor City's "illustrious" reputation it was recently garnished with the title of America's second most dangerous city. But amongst a struggling state ecomomy a light shined in the dark offering the city hope and from a most unusual source...the evening news.

Frank Turner, an Emmy-winning journalist, got a chance to share the Good News to millions of Detroit metropolitan viewers. His personal testimony is a redeeming story of one who struggled with addictions, depression, public disgrace and divorce. God was able to turn his troubles into a triumph for the Kingdom. Turner's website says:

Frank is also extremely proud of his recognition as "America's First Evangelical Anchorman" for being the first nightly news anchor in television history to boldly proclaim the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ in regular commentaries during a secular newscast!

Turner departed from Channel 7 News and is now commited to his full-time evangelical ministy God's Amazing Grace. He is currently traveling around Michigan sharing his story and will have a TV show on a local station in January.

The Detroit Tigers may have lost The World Series but Frank Turner is giving the city a winning story to talk about.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Peyton's Brother

One Tree Hill pulled out a refreshing plot twist: Peyton's real half-brother Derek is biracial (black and white). And the really surprising part was that it didn't take them five episodes to explain "how" that could happen. The writers deserve big kudos for that alone. Ernest Waddell's (Derek) portrayal of the tough as nails Marine with a big heart is the best addition to the series. On the good side, this shows that the American television audience is ready to embrace the fact that multi-ethnic families do exist and that they are growing in numbers. The 2000 Census was the first time people of multi-ethnic backgrounds were able to select more than one race box. This was a big step in the right direction of breaking down the "you can only pick one" line of thinking. On the bad side, what took Hollywood so long to do a show like this? And better yet, why aren't there more shows with this kind of content? One Tree Hill may have an abundance of teen angst melodrama but this storyline is a true diamond in the rough.

On the other hand, some journalists still miss the mark when it comes inter-racial couples and their biracial children. The whole one black and one white twin phenomenon is a prime example. Racialious.com made this fine point:

First, people are still so intent on forcing people into neat little categories. But these children are all mixed - they’re not solely “black” or “white.” Second, it’s amazing how much phenotype - especially skin color - warps people’s perceptions.

A person may "look" a certain way, but that doesn't change what they "are". That's what some of the American public just doesn't seem to get and it's pretty sad considering it's 2006. Sometimes pictures say it best so here's a short list of black and white biracial entertainers: Halle Berry, Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds), Alicia Keys and Wenthworth Miller (Prision Break). I wish I could take snapshots of people's reactions when I tell them Miller is part African-American. Then I could make a catalog of all the pictures and call it The Miller Wall of "No Way!" because a suprised reaction of disbelief is the top response.

Mavin, Swirl Inc. and Project Race are excellent resources that delve deeper into the biracial and multi-ethnic movement.

We've come a long way since the civil rights movement in the 1960s but it is quite clear that we still have a long way to go. Until then, stay tuned to One Tree Hill and...viva la revolution!

Saturday, November 25, 2006

26 Letters

I was searching the web for the lyrics to this amazing song by Ben Glover. I found this picture and then it hit me--Ben Glover looks like Screech from Saved by the Bell. That's if you stuck around long enough to watch Screech grow a gotee. It's kind of funny because I saw Dustin Diamond a.k.a "Screech" on some TV show recently because he was selling T-shirts to save his house from foreclosure. According to his wikipedia entry, a reporter said the whole T-shirt bit was a scam. Poor Screech.

I wonder if Ben Glover looked like Screech when he was younger. If so, maybe getting stuffed into lockers and picked on fueled his artistic creativity. Glover's lyrics are so profoundly rich, seasoned with clarity and simple imagery that cleverly conveys the struggle of a believer's journey. As great as his songwriting skills are, he boldy proclaims that his words could never come close to capturing all the glory, mystery and beauty found in Christ. And that's what I love about the song "26 Letters". No matter how hard we try to paint the perfect picture or form the most stunning sentence God is so much biggger than it all...so utterly break-taking that it will take an eternity for us to express our gratitude for his love.