WRITER'S BLOCK

Black History Month

2012-02-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

Photo: Freedom taken by ”

- Roy Rudolph DeCarva 1919 - 2009

I was asked recently by some young friends of mine if I thought Black History Month promoted racism or helped to eliminate it. I posted the question on my Facebook page to let people give their thoughts before I responded.

Let me first start by sharing a story of an encounter. Many years ago, my friend said, "How do you get away with it?", referring to BET - Black Entertainment Television. He went on to say, "we could never get away with White Entertainment Television." While I empathized with the double standard, I told him he already had it, and it was called ABC, CBS and NBC.

This was the start of my answer to my two young friends. I told them, Black History Month was simply that, Black History Month. Is racism a part of black history? Absolutely. Is it part of Black History Month? Absolutely, but not because of the reasons you think. Black History is not white guilt month, it is Black History Month. When learning about what African Americans had to overcome to be considered equal, racism will certainly be a hurdle. If that makes white people uncomfortable, truth sometimes hurts.

This is part of the reason I started my daily Black History Post on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=630158264. It is impossible to talk about African Americans within the American story without covering the topic of racism. Therefore it is impossible to avoid it when we discuss Black History Month. Just because we talk about it doesn't mean we hinder or help it. Actions speak louder than words. So for me, Black History Month has been about doing some homework on African Americans and African American firsts in our Nation's History.

In the media today, everything gets compared to the civil rights movement. Healthcare, gay marriage, pro-life, the mortgage crisis, even the occupy demonstrations. We are told there is the 99% and the 1%. Personally I believe there is no 99% or 1% we are all in it together and I have little sympathy for people who stand in line for hours to get their $299 smart phones so they can tweet pictures of how under privileged they are. I never saw any photos of lines outside the retail stores during the great depression unless there was a help wanted sign in the window. So are we really as bad off as we think, and how does this get linked to Black History Month. Let’s shine some light on that perspective. Did you know 75% of people wear corrective lenses. Where is the other 25% demanding they get eyewear or contacts. Did you know that 61% of wealthy people considered to be in the top 1% drive Toyota, Honda & Ford cars. Where is the outcry for the little people to be able to drive a Camary or a Fusion? Did you know that only 5% of the worlds population has flown on a plane. Oh the horror. 31.6% of Americans have no internet access! It's like the stone age! I fear sharing this..., 98.2% of Americans do not own an Apple Computer,..Oh - Dear - God! Perhaps the one we never see marching in the streets, is because they lack the coordination to march, only 8% of Americans play a musical instrument. Riot in the street over that one and demand an instrument and lessons. This is not a debate between the have’s and have not’s it is between the have’s and I want’s. And for the record it has nothing to do with Civil Rights. But for the sake of argument, I’ll indulge.

What about the woman who wrote the Harry Potter series, when she was a financially struggling mom. How about Steve Jobs and Woz in their parents garage working on a personal computer. Or Bill Gates when he dropped out of college. Even NASA Rocket Scientist - Homer Hickam, when his father was shoveling coal, and he was building model rockets. Were these people in the 99% or the 1%? Or did they simply change their story?

You see that type of language is dangerous. It is beyond dangerous, it is apocalyptic throughout history. Think back on how blacks were made less then human during slavery. Think back to how the Jews were blamed for all that was wrong with Germany during Hitlers holocaust in WW2. We saw it recently in the Ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. We are seeing it again in Syria and Egypt. And even still in our own country with regard to the discussion of illegal immigrants. All over the world, the sex trade is booming. Terrorist think others are less than human and should not be allowed to exist on the planet. History marches down this road repeatedly.

The dangerous language of the Civil Rights movement was not that Blacks wanted to be in the same percentage or have the same possessions as whites. It was that we believed God made us all equal, and He didn’t measure it by possessions.

Pay attention, I'll say it again. The dangerous language of the civil rights movement was that WE ARE ALL EQUAL. That is inflammatory speech when coming from a group of people you have deemed less than human. It wasn't our rights or lack of, it wasn't our money, or lack of, and it wasn't our employment or lack of that we were fighting for. We were fighting for the right to be free. Then and only then could we begin to write our American story. We had to be free.

This is why it is so important to see yourself as part of the American story. The whole story. For me, Black History is the infusion of truth into the American Story. It is how, where, why, and when African Americans changed the direction of this nation. In order to fight racism, you have to change the paradigm. Much of our history has been whitewashed. Contributions made from African Americans were simply left out of history. This is why racism can be seen woven through Black History Month. There is no agenda, it is simply truth and in many cases an unpleasant one to admit. Without the ability to see a culture or a race as an integral part of our country, we devalue that race or culture and over time we lose that country.

Black History month is more than the Mass 54th, the first combat colored regiment in the Civil War. It is beyond the Tuskegee Airmen, It is bigger than Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, and President Obama. It even goes beyond Whitney Houston being the first African American to be on the cover of Seventeen magazine or Doug Williams being the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. We’ve been sold the story, that success looks white in this country. It has been said that whoever tells the best story wins the culture. How do African Americans expect to impact current culture when the stories being told on television and in film still portray us as the criminals, the car jackers, the drug store gunmen, the unfaithful fathers and husbands, and the uneducated gangsters who control the drug trade with a secret language and hand gestures. Black History Month for me is about telling the whole story of America so that over time all Americans will know that we played just as big a role in birthing this nation as any other race. Despite the generational wealth that skipped blacks in the founding of our country, Black History month should be an inspiration. No matter what percent you think you are in, most of us will never again have to face the types of hardships and discrimination that early African Americans did. Against all odds, we were able to beat back the chains of slavery, oppression, poor education, violence, unemployment and acts of terrorism to become scientist, authors, inventors, musicians, athletes, actors, politicians, presidents, doctors, dancers, military generals, pilots and astronauts.

Until the names of Charles Drew, Garret Morgan, and Lewis Latimer show up in history books next to Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Ben Franklin we will continue to shine light where there is darkness. Until we re-educate a generation of students that only read about blacks during the slavery chapter of their social studies and history books black history month will remain a tool. When America sees how African Americans contributed equally to the great American Story, the world may begin to see true equality. Once that happens then nothing can stop this country's ability to be what God intended. I hope that answers the question.

“It doesn’t have to be pretty to be true, but if it’s true it’s beautiful. Truth is beautiful. And so my whole work is about what amounts to a reverence for life itself.”

- Roy Rudolph DeCarva 1919 - 2009

Just A Shell?

2010-12-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of our house, being built. It is the house we currently live in now. I recently set it up as a desk top wall paper. I found myself starring at it one day and realizing that it was simply a shell. Not because it was lacking brick and siding and windows and doors but because it was lacking life. Then like that scene from Titanic when the old rose sees a video of the sunken ship and see all the life that took place at that place on the ship.... it started to happen. I saw the driveway filled with cars of my friends from small group. I see through the wall in the back of the garage where our family room now is, and I see 48 of my friends jumping up and down at a Superbowl party when the giants won. And none of us were giants fans. I look through the front door and see into the morning room on the back of the house and see all of us sitting and playing monopoly or the counter top piled with desserts from Spaghetti Sundays!. The big window upstairs in the loft where a friends little boy can be seen with his Indiana Jones hat playing the Wii. Or the bump out window where two friends started dating over a chess game and are now married. But it's just a shell right? Hardly, it is the hub of dreams and relationships. It's a place where we do life with each other. It's the place where you mourn the death of your friend and celebrate the life of your friend's newborn. Then I started to see this house as our lives. We have dream and disappointments. We have plans and tragedies. But what makes these shells so powerful is the life that lives in them. For me that live is Jesus. He is the meaningful relationship, the fun, the dreams and also the pain of realizing that I'm not the man I should be and I have to learn a lesson all over again. I guess the writer's block moment is to remind me that it's the life we do with people and vulnerability that comes from those relationships that makes the moments in these shells, so powerful. Sure someday we'll sell this house and move our family somewhere else. But then next time I have a photo that looks like this of my house, I will be filled with excitement for the life that is about to be lived in the new shell. I will however, tend to this shell of mine that is 45 years old now, and hopefully has a lot more life to live. I'll approach my life like this photo of a my house. That there is still so much more that God wants to do with it and I should look forward to the unexpected.

So What's It Like?

2010-10-08T09:13:00.000-04:00

We just completed our 25th anniversary celebration at the Cintas Center where several thousand people came together for one big celebration. Normally we have four celebrations over the course of a weekend. The stage was huge and the PA system was loud, no drum shields, no inner ear monitors, just huge PA, huge band and huge drums!

The question asked the most was, what is it like to play in front of that many people? So without even getting into that I thought I would write about my favorite part of the entire celebration. In any organization there is conflict, some people think one thing should be done and others think something else should be done. I told my father in law what I thought about our growth.

There is no normal reason for us to grow as an organization. We give money away, in many cases we are reactive rather than proactive. We dream huge, but plan like my daughter plans to clean her room! Most of the time we kinda figure it out as we go along, and it is borderline chaos at all times.

But here is what I said. God must look down on us at this church and see us through his eyes. And those eyes see reckless abandon to reach the needy, unbridled passion for students and youth, a heart that breaks for the wounded and those in need of healing, and a heart for worship to communicate with Him.

That is why we grow!

We lose that, we lose everything.

So here is my inspiration moment! During the Cintas Celebration tiny flash lights were handed out. Dave asked, if you have come to know Jesus, and now have a relationship with him while being here at the Vineyard will you please turn on your light now.

I looked down my row and saw both my daughters with their lights on. Dave then said...."This is why we exists as a church"

That, in my world....is all that matters.

So my songwriting inspiration for this post is reckless abandon, passion, running straight into the wind, may give us a desire to fly...but God creates the lift to fly!

The Game Happens During The Week

2010-09-13T00:56:00.000-04:00

I never get to watch my football team, the Washington Redskins very much. I mean I've been to a preseason game against Cincy a few years back...not sure my toes have ever been the same since. But after the skins picked up McNabb as QB I figured they might show a few more skins games.
Well add the Cowboys to the mix and you've got the makings of hopefully some good TV.

Something that was said at the end of the game gave me a moment of inspiration so I decided to capture it. A reporter asked how was McNabb's first game as a Skin. He said that coach says the game happens during the week at practice and tonight was just having fun.My entire life has been about preparing for opportunity to meet me. The way we educate ourselves in hopes that the right job will come along at the right time. Or the way we save our money so that the right bargin will meet us at the right time to take advantage of a deal.

Well being a worship leader is not much different. How we think about a set, pray about what songs will work, which songs have a theme together, which keys will work well, what tempos will create flow. Which songs are going to be given back to the congregation to sing and the band drops out. All that is the weekend during the week. I can't tell you how many times I find myself hoping no one will walk into my office and find me in tears over the way a song speaks to me.

We spend hours making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. 10's of man hours getting lead sheets right, making sure our instruments have been chosen correctly, then the the full day of setting the stage making sure everything is connected.

Thursday 7PM rolls around and the band has been there since 6:30 getting their rigs set up. Not the mention the hours of practicing that they have already done at their house before tonight. Two hours of rehearsal, dialing everything in. Front of house and lights are making notes of what camera shots to get, where to place the lights based on what the song is doing and making sure the mix is just right. Knowing full well for some it will be too loud, and others not loud enough.

Then another rehearsal Saturday at 4:30 just to tighten everything up. Then soundcheck in real time from 5:15 - 5:35. Then get off the stage and wait for 6:30. By the time 6:30 comes, we have already done this set countless times. And we do our best to simply worship and lead well. Then we do it 3 more times Sunday.

It's the week where we play the game, Sunday is just the band having fun. I think that applies to everything in life. Something I'm still trying to get my girls to understand. They save their energy in soccer practice saying they don't want to be tired for the game?

It is hard to do the things when no one is watching that prepare you to do it well when everyone is watching. Too many times we think we can show up and sheer talent will carry us through. Sure but that means, I'm relying on myself every week.

If I prepare so that things become 2nd nature, then I'm out of the way when God shows up and it becomes easier for me to follow.

And that is my inspiration moment for the day.

Blessings,
Charlie

The Spiritual Lessons Of Guitar Building Lesson I

2010-09-07T15:07:00.000-04:00

I have a good friend that is building a guitar for me. After being brought to tear on more than one occasion, I've decided to begin to write down some thoughts that have inspired me to write again. So many little God stories in the building of this guitar. It's no wonder Jesus was a carpenter.

I guess the process of how this got started is should be the first post. When I moved back from Dallas I discovered that Cincinnati was one of the allergy capitals of the world. I immediately began staying sick. So I sought an ENT. Enter, Dr. Ric DeVore. After a few visits and an allergy test that revealed I'm allergic to everything except a sycamore tree, surgery was required. My voice dramatically improved as did my breathing.

Fast forward 6 years of so. I'm at a Cincinnati Cyclones game and I get hugged by this guy before I get a chance to see who it is. After I catch my breathe, I realize it's DeVore. Hadn't seen him in years but I considered him a friend and knew he played drums.

He went one way in the arena and I went the other way. When my wife and I took our seats we turn around and there is Dr. DeVore and his family. I took that as the little sign from God. I turned around and asked if he wanted to play drums for me in the June. As it turns out I didn't know he and his family were in the middle to looking for a church to call home.

Then there is my friend Jeff Fortenbery, the guitar builder. I guess one day he needed an ENT and ended up in the DeVore Office. They started talking and realized they were both into rare woods that they had collected for both building. One built furniture and fly rods and the other built guitars.

Fast forward some more and I end up with a rather expensive piece of wood donated from one of them to the other to build a guitar for me. There is so much more to this story. But for now, I'm reminding myself that chance encounters are never chance. That God breathes on all the encounters in the life of believers. That the people we meet during everyday life are woven into our lives to show Christ. I've heard of my friends on interviews that ended up sharing Christ to their potential boss or a chance encounter at a Kroger or a gas station that set people on a path to hear for God that day.

You just never know!