I have noticed in the last couple days more white friends beginning to say they have changed their mind about systemic racism existing (as in they now realize it exists) and now desire to speak out. Some, if I'm honest, I never thought I would see say so but I'm so grateful you're here now whether it took you five years or fifty! Here are a few suggestions you enter this new (but truer) world. I don't write as an expert here but as someone who has experienced and watched others endure a number of things it would be good to know are coming your way if you stay the course.

Be Good Listeners:
Read books, documentaries, and watch YouTube videos from black and brown voices who have lived through and thought through racism and blessed the internet or the literature world with their thoughts. If your black or brown friends desire to share with your their experiences or racism, listen with grace and NO "But what about...." Their trauma is not ours to judge but to hear when we are graced with their desire to share. They may not as it may be too painful or frustrating and that is absolutely okay and to be respected.

Also, many black and brown folks have been doing the work of organizing and calling out racist systems since America began. Never overstep here. There is more at stake for their communities and they need our support.

It is our responsibility to confront white folks, if we are white, regarding racism. However, do the work of reading up on who has already been doing what before doing so so you don't step in front of a momentum developed by others. Also, the perspectives and experiences you hear from those voices will give you a much fuller depth of what it is you need to see and speak about.

Be Thick Skinned & Tenderhearted:
When you speak about racism, be ready for texts, messages, and carefully woven conversations to frame black and brown people and you out to be the problem—even when there is video evidence. It will be framed with "they loot" (as if that nullifies the discussion) or "protect the police" (as if saying there are racist ones means you don't think any are good) in polar extremes. It will be framed as "my white loved one was once assaulted or put in danger by so and so."  It will be framed in absolutes and polarized language.  Of course there is always danger in the world but those nuances are important and can't nullify systemic racism. You must stay the course of nuancing and you can't take it personally (even though it is sometimes).

Yet, at the end of the day, you have to love love more than those comments you know might show up. You can't allow those frustrations to make your heart hard, just your skin. There's too much good and worthwhile to be tenderhearted about to let those things turn your heart to stone. Your tender heart is likely what helped you notice and admit to racism's profound existence in our world. Let it guide you further into the truth of what is good and bad because on the truth can set any of us free.

Be Brave:
You can't let uncle so-and-so say those words around you anymore. You have to make Thanksgiving awkward when those racist words roll (even though uncle so-and-so really made it awkward by being racist). You have to give up the idea of being primarily liked or nice or "gets along with everyone." I love those qualities by the way! But you won't be those when you no longer hint at racism, try to change hearts through the back door, or when you realize some hearts won't change and therefore must directly challenged. You have to be bold, direct, concise, and willing to fail. Every time you post something about racism in America or say something in a group you have to brace for impact even when you couch it with humor or loving language. You'll sometimes be lumped in with everything folks hate about the other "side" pretty quickly by some and you will be talked about, receive ugly messages, or receive the quiet treatment. It will hurt.

However, you will occasionally get a message from someone in a high-density racist area who says they needed a voice to speak up and they were thankful you did. It gave them confidence to be more bold. This is why when folks say posting on social media doesn't change things—question it. There are folks who can only see voices they need to see online. You will also hear someone say they can see it now when they didn't before. You will begin giving people permission to open themselves up to the poor, oppressed, wounded—for me, the folks Jesus spent the brunt of his time with.

Be Humble:
Never use your new found passion to challenge settler colonialism, whiteness, or white supremacy as a personal agenda to elevate yourself. Pride goes before the fall. I've known pastors who have lost jobs for speaking about racism and others who were muted by their work places when people complained they challenged the status quo. This will not be popular. Also, we are talking about people's actual lives. White folks can opt out anytime we choose but black and brown coded friends are in this fight for life. Their suffering and endurance level is the most impressive expression of character I know of in our history.  Even when we suffer for speaking up, systemically we haven't endured what our black and brown friends have every time they see a new person killed and posted on social media or experience a host of microagressions. Be humble in knowing that you must speak up but you still speak from a different experience. While we should speak on our brown and black friends' behalf we should never speak over them. They have their stories to tell and we should magnify their voices whenever possible. I've heard it quoted "Scientists have found there is no center of the universe, so you can't be it." In this discussion, we must decenter ourselves. Jesus might say, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him for those who're Jesus-lovin' types. This might mean taking our phones off selfie mode at the rally or protest and placing it on others whose stories more need to be told (with their permission of course!).

Finally, as I stated earlier this discussion isn't about your platform, here are a few voices, African, Native, and European American, whose perspectives and work may help you in decolonizing your life and love: Drew GI Heart, Austin Channing Brown, Wendell Berry, Kaitlin Curtice, Michelle Alexander, Sandy Grande, David Dark, Lisa Sharon Harper, and James Cone. Google them. Listen well and love better.

I hope this is helpful to those who're tuning into a new reality. My faith community has an expression "upside down kingdom" where those at the bottom are elevated in value. Only the truth will set us free in regards to our past in halting that progress. I'm certain there are deficiencies in what I've written and I ask forgiveness for those. I've still got a long way to go but can't go backwards. I'm thankful for the black, brown, and white examples who I've learned from. Let's move forward.

Grace, Peace, & Love fam.

Yesterday evening I had a Zoom Bible Study with some of my Cross Country team. I wrestled with what I could share with them. Sometimes I, a Bible teacher, forget how rich the Bible is and how God's Spirit promises to give words in those moments where we need words of weight. 

John 20 is where I landed because I knew it could be Eastery but I had no direction before thumbing there. As I scrolled through the stories there I laughed a little in surprise like Sarai when she got some surprising news. The words that needed spoken were right there spoken by Jesus. Imagine Jesus saying the right thing at the right time.

The chapter begins with Peter and John racing to the tomb they thought must house Jesus since they had seen him dead and buried. Secretly, I like this text because John outran Jesus and I'm a Cross Country Coach and I just think it's fantastic that tidbit was included. As it turns out, of course, the tomb was empty, and Jesus was very much alive. 

He came to his disciples whom we find "with the doors locked for fear." Their fear was of Jews who knew they had followed Jesus—who'd spent a great deal of energy overturning their evil systems. We don't have doors locked because we fear Jewish leaders. But we sure are doing up this Safer-at-Home thing to keep the Rona away. We fear the grocery store, large crowds, and going to work. We stay home in isolation a lot. And Jesus showed up in their safer-at-home, and ours, and says "Peace be with you." Twice. 

To add a Corona-humored layer on the text, Jesus then breathes on the disciples to give them the Holy Spirit. I read that with my homemade facemask for grocery visits in viewing distance. Jesus clearly wasn't gifting the Spirit during a Covid pandemic. I assume he wouldn't be a carrier either way.

Then, we meet Thomas for whom I feel so hard. I spent half of my 20s with significant doubts about Jesus. I even moved to the other side of world, at least partially, because I didn't know what to make of Jesus and the Bible Belt was actually not a great place to figure it out for me at that time. So, when a resurrected Jesus shows up to meet Thomas showed up to meet Thomas, Thomas had already made it known to his buddies he had no interest in believing this resurrection nonsense unless he had Jesus right there in front of him with scars to touch.

What I LOVE here is BEFORE Jesus provides those proofs for doubting Thomas he provides a blessing: Peace be with you. Jesus didn't need Thomas in perfected faith-mode in order to bless him with peace. No, he wants to give peace to the person who will love peace because it is absent. Jesus comes to this doubtful, confused, wounded man and says "Peace."

Today, on Easter, you can have fear. You can have doubt. Jesus shows up in our locked doors—he did that twice in this chapter—and says "Peace to you." How can he say that? Because the last words he said before this chapter were "It is finished." Death and evil have been defeated. 

Wherever you are reading this, my prayer for you during this season is you live like Jesus is in that space with you and you envision him saying in your fear and doubt and thousand Zoom calls and helping your kid with homework while you're cooking and texting your coworker about that project "Peace. Peace. Peace be with you."

​I actually think that Christianity provides a great deal of good news to the world. I’m increasingly convinced—leave it to an arrogant academic to say such a thing—but still, I’m increasingly convinced that many Christians themselves don’t understand what Christianity is. We certainly then can’t expect non-Christians to understand what Christianity is if the Christians don’t. And it’s one reason we Christians have become a bad public joke. We’ve become a scandal, but not in the New Testament sense, which saw a scandal in the message of a suffering Messiah.
 
Those on the left can easily poke holes in the arguments of the devotees on the right—and they have plenty of material to work with. I poke many of these holes too, in the book.  And then those on the right can do the same thing to those on the left. And I poke many of those holes, as well. But the way the poking of holes and hostile debating is playing out in the public square is a fairly intoxicating brew, and not necessarily helpful in the big scheme of things. The more important question is whether we can articulate a vision that is “neither right, nor left, nor religious.” It’s whether we can articulate what I like to call a “radical conservatism” or a “liberal orthodoxy.” I think we can, and it’s what I’m trying to do in the book.
 

​What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work thus far? What are you working on now you hope to offer up soon?
 
I think my challenges are some of the same that many authors and artists face: self-criticism and fear, among them. But the more I’ve realized that just comes with the territory, the more I’ve learned strategies for pushing beyond those hurdles.
 
So far as what I’m working on now: I host and produce a variety show in Nashville called Tokens Show. We are now in our second decade of work with that project, and it’s great fun. I’d love for folks who’ve never seen our show to come join us.
 
Where can those new to your work find you online?
 
You can find out more about me at www.LeeCCamp.com. Or to find out more about Tokens Show, visit www.TokensShow.com. Socials at www.Facebook.com/leeccamp and www.Instagram.com/leeccamp. 

I had an impromptu discussion with two of my favorite people, Jules and Kevin Redd, during a basketball game at my school about The Heno Project—a project promoting awareness and dialog regarding race in America and the church. They were kind enough to let me drag them away from watching for a few minutes to ask them a few questions. I love their heart for helping people have vital and challenging discussions. 

Sidenote: This is my first shot at a video interview. They look great despite my makeshift iPad setup in my classroom.

Check them out at https://www.henoproject.org/
Or find them on Facebook. Use icons below to connect.

What is the name of your creative endeavor?
 
I recently published a chapbook of my own original poetry called Invisible Hope: poetry for ragamuffins, and it’s available for purchase at Blurb.com.
 
What is the primary purpose of your work?
 
Poetry helps me explore things that are too wild to capture in essay form, either because they’re intensely personal, or because I’m still figuring out how I feel and what I want to say. Poetry is also the form of writing that I feel most free in, where I don’t have to build an argument, tell a complete story, or come to a formal conclusion. Instead I’m just trying to find the words and sounds that best communicate the emotions and experience I want to describe. I don’t write poems very often, so the twenty-three in this collection are the best of what I’ve accumulated over the past ten years. And, practically speaking, putting together this book was a relatively easy, low-risk way for me to try out self-publishing.
 
How do you hope your work helps your audience flourish?
 
I hope my words provide moments of hope, clarity, and communion to my readers—with Christ and with other saints like me.
 
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work thus far?
 
My biggest challenge in writing anything is believing that my voice matters. There are so many other writers who are more qualified, more educated, and smarter than me; and I have a hard time convincing myself that anyone would be interested in what I have to say.
 
What are you working on now that you hope to offer up soon?
 
I finished writing my first book last April. It's called Good Grief: A Pilgrimage Toward Hope. It’s a memoir about the value of grief in the life of a Christian. I spent much of last year looking for an agent or a publisher, but I haven’t found one yet, so I'm currently thinking about publishing it myself, like I did the poetry book. However, I’m still looking to work with an editor, so I don’t think it’ll be available until much later in 2020.
 
Where can those new to your work find you online?
 
New readers can visit my website: JannaBarber.com, or find me on Facebook

Lastly, Janna gave me (Rusty) permission to share a poem of my choosing from her collection. I'll share one which came to me on a day which I was feeling my mortality due to an injury. When I read it, it struck me in a certain kind of way. I'll share below:

Slow, Slow. Quick Quick. Fade.

Sometimes,

when I lay my head beside your sleeping face
my breath stops short
caught in the stillness of the moment
and the fear of everlasting: a night without you.

Time's turner flips my stomach--
violent and unrelenting.

How can we have loved so liong,
when it was only yesterday
that your hand first squeezed mine,
in the dark theater where two seats were too far apart?

How did those young ones end up where
in a house with three budding children
and a single name for us all?

I swear, I swear, I swear
I just blinked once
before we both began to gray.

Go purchase Invisible Hope: poetry for ragamuffins and enjoy some more of Janna's work!

My wife’s last words were almost “chickie nuggie.”

It happened two nights ago. We were vegging on the couch after a long first week back at school. We both teach so Friday nights after our kids get to bed we usually find ourselves on the couch zoning out for a few minutes before tuning back in to each other and our lives.

I plopped on the couch and fell down a rabbit hole of Baby Yoda memes. It started with a slight giggle as Baby Yoda asked the Mandalorian for “choccy miwky” to drink. A little funny, I guess, unless you’re a high school teacher who is delirious from a first week’s worth of teaching. Then it’s shoulder-shaking funny. The kind where you’re trying to keep it together because you’re tired wife is zoned out next to you on the couch and you don’t want to disturb her. Ss your shoulders shimmy up and down rapidly trying to hold in laughter.

But then I swiped to the next meme and there was tired Baby Yoda’s gaze reaching three fingers forward with caption “Reaching for the snoozey-snuz button” at which point I chortled. I like the snoozey-snuz buttong mroe than I should and on the Buffalo Wild Wings scale a laugh is Honey BBQ level. A chortle is something like Asian Zing. I lost it. At this point my wife began taking note. 

“What’s funny?” she said looking up from her own phone scrolling with slight annoyance at my delirium.

At this point I swiped to the showstopper. Baby Yoda giddy-gauzing at the Wheel of Fortune board with words “chicki nuggie” on the board as the solved puzzle. On a Friday night after kids are in bed on the first full week back at school—that is Mango Habanero level funny. 

I showed the meme to my wife. She Honey BBQ-level laughed and looked at a couple more memes knowing I was in a sort of tired-teacher-trance state of laughter.

It was nearing time for bed and we'd been taking a tablespoon of elderberry syrup before bed recently because that seems to be how adults adult themselves these days. I sillily gestured to my wife I’d give her a tablespoon like we do our kids and she accepts the offer. I extend the spoon and, just before elderberry entry, she says in a child’s voice…”chickie nuggie.” 

We both lose it. And it would’ve been a silly chortle fest except when we lose it my wife immediately engulfs the elderberry syrup into her lungs at which point they clinch up and close down. They have, after all, just received a foreign object into them. 

Rachel immediately begins to weeze and grasp for air while clutching her throat. 

I pause, uncertain what is happening for a moment, and then realize my wife is choking. She begins walking this way and that trying to gather herself and free her lungs for air. After a good minute, or was it an eternity, I say “Should I do the heimlich?!” 

And as I walk toward her she finally takes a good, slow, breath from the depths of her body as air begins re-entering her lungs. After a moment she emerges from her perilous state and explains to me what happened with the elderberry syrup. 

I was shaken because, in that moment, she had spiraled immediately to a state of peril. I looked with relief at her pale face as she recovered her breath. She was with us.

The next day I was recounting to our friends what happened the night before. It dawned on me what her last words would’ve been. So, of course, I made this meme.

​

What is the name of your creative endeavor?
Mapping Healthy Minds is the name of the podcast that I am producing under my group
practice, Compass Counseling. The tagline of this show is “we all have mental health,
how’s yours?”

What is the primary purpose of your work?
The primary purpose of this project is to normalize mental health by making a
comparison to the fact that we all have physical health to take care of so we should treat
our mental health the same way. This includes basic tips for improvement within the
context of one’s personal mental status and in relationships, the hope is also that this
show will remove some stigma from going to therapy. The format we use is interviews
conducted by me with other mental health professionals as guests. The podcast also
features professionals in other fields of which mental health overlaps. For example, an
episode was with a local physical trainer who owns a gym and highly values the
connection between mental and physical health.

How do you hope your work helps your audience flourish?
Generally, we want people to have a better sense of mental health. A specific way we
have worked towards that end is to provide a series on workplace wellness. Each of the
therapists at my office took a turn in the interview format talking about a speciality they
own and how it connects to having a positive experience on the job.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work thus far?
Most challenges in any creative endeavor seem to be technical, it seems. The initial
setup of the podcast and over the internet interviews are the only type of barrier
experienced at this point. Developing an audience is also a challenge. As anyone who
creates knows, quality content is only half the battle. Otherwise it has run smooth. I have
experience with a different podcast which is helpful. And as a therapist talking to people
about meaningful topics comes naturally. It is a project that supporting guests have
gotten behind and been excited about being a part of.

What are you working on now you hope to offer up soon?
As of this writing, season three is in the works. The past seasons have consisted of 6
and 7 episodes. The upcoming season includes a couple different episodes on trauma.
One with a very personal disclosure. Also planned are episodes on work/life balance
with females and attachment.

Where can those new to your work find you online?
There are currently three ways to hear Mapping Healthy Minds. It is available on the
Compass Counseling website for streaming
(www.compasscounselingky.com/mapping-healthy-minds-podcast) and on either Spotify
or Apple Podcast. Also, Mapping Healthy Minds Podcast is on facebook and instagram
@mappinghealthymindspodcast.

Have you ever thought of all the people you know doing incredible work? Sometimes I think “How do I know people so talented and willing to share their talents the ways they do?” While their writing, songs, podcasts, or visual art may be so good it makes it looks easy, I suspect they’ve worked harder than anyone will ever know to birth something beneficial to this world.

I believe God wordsmiths this world every single moment. He spoke into chaos and it organized in Genesis. Jesus was known as the Word made flesh. God’s creative wordsmithing holds the world together. Each moment that is is a miracle in and of itself. The Word creates worlds.

For better or worse, our words fashion worlds for each other as well. Ms. Jean, my Middle School history teacher, told me I was smart and could use words. Her words fashioned me into a more confident, less self-doubt-ridden kid. With her words she created for me a world in which I have a place.

That said, I want to introduce ‘wordsmith wednesday’—a monthly-ish series. Some wordsmith through poems and others podcasts; some make videos and others bake cakes. 

Growing a platform—something I am trying to do—is tricky. You believe in your message but an artist’s market can be competitive—even cut throat. I want to write and publish and so do a lot of other folks. However, I don’t want to compete as much as collaborate. I want to make a network of amazing creators available to more people instead of focusing on making a name for myself. I don’t know if this is a good business model but hopefully it’s a strategy for you and I to have richer community.

So, below I’m copying exactly what I’m sending to my friends by whose work I’ve been blessed and think others may be as well as they share their work here on this site:

Purpose:
I want creative work to be collaborative, not competitive. So, I want to share with my audience the work of those whose creativity helps flourish communities—something humans are called to in the Genesis creation story. I want those whose work I share to consider sharing mine with their audience if they think the audience will find it useful. In this way, we lift up each other’s goals to speak life into communities via what we’re gifted to offer instead of push each other down to compete in the social market place. Our creative works can rise up together as we all reach more audience members through shared networks. Collaboration flourishes community by amplifying creativity!

Proponents:
Thus, I offer to you ‘wordsmith wednesday’.

At least one Wednesday each month, but perhaps more than one as time and material allow, I’d like to offer to my audience a 300-500 word essay from a wordsmith’er whose work I’d like to highlight. You are then welcome to share this write-up with your audience and are welcome to mention work I’m doing (currently on ‘exile’ as a lens for shame processing in faith communities).

‘wordsmith wednesday’ is not just for authors although it will hopefully include them. It is for anyone working on a creative endeavor which involves communicating goodness, hope, love, redemption, justice, or other concepts which helps communities flourish. This easily includes songwriters, podcasters, writers, counselors, visual artists, preachers and teachers, athletes, and a host of other things I’ve not yet even considered!

Next Wednesday we'll get started with 'wordsmith wednesday.' Can't wait to introduce you to some folks!

It is 2020! If this nice round number doesn't inspire you to chase that new goal then maybe you have a round number phobia—you should get that checked out.

Here's the thing. I'm 41 years old which means I'm midlife now. What?! Most folks still think my wife and I are in our early 30s which is nice some days but inaccurate all the days. And since we are in our early 40s negotiating time and goals means a lot more than it used to. 

In my late teens and early 20s I'd spend hours memorizing lines from whatever Adam Sandler movie was on loop. And while it's nice to be able to say with impeccable comedic timing "The price is wrong Bob" from Happy Gilmore, now that I'm midlife, hold down a job, and have a family that doesn't seem so significant. 

And significant is what I want to see a lot more from us humans this round-numbered year. In this year where the cheeseball "have a better vision for your life in 2020" slogans will abound let's be honest—cheeseballs are delicious and we should all have one of those giant plastic jugs of them in our kitchen. So let's run with that slogan for a minute.

But now come the rebuttals in your brain and mine.

"But I'm not ready to envision a marathon at this year even though I've wanted to since I was a kid. I can't run a half yet." 

"I don't know how to play like James Taylor so I better wait a until next month longer to pick up the guitar. I'll just keep watching YouTube tutorials on how to play."

I know. Me too. But how much longer will you rob yourself and your world of what you're capable of? And if you live until your grey haired do you want to sit in your rocking chair wondering about what could've been?

​Maybe we could be more like the God who created in Genesis who didn't make a perfect thing. 

Bear with me, I'm not heretic-ing here. Let me explain.

A perfect thing is complete and at its highest point of ability. In the Garden of Eden, that's not how the story goes. 

God makes a young Adam and Eve who still have so much to learn about themselves, each other, the garden that needs some upkeep and improvement, and their Creator. The earth isn't perfected. They aren't perfected. There is still so much to learn and do before they bite any forbidden fruit.

God called the place and the two people "good" but he didn't call them "perfect" because they weren't. And yet God got to work creating.

The fear of not being perfect has delayed too many good things from happening. I've wanted to write and have done so off and on for years. However, there are seasons where I let fear of imperfection overwhelm my ability to offer something good enough (or even "just okay") for the day.

So a few days ago I took my family to Jerry's Sno Cones, a delicious Memphis eatery, and my wife took pictures for my portfolio to start writing professionally and part-time. We didn't know how to do them perfectly but we did them and they are good enough for this season. Actually, she made them really fun and colorful and she's awesome. I put the photo below because I need you to see something where I can see all my flaws but am committing to God's words that "I'm good," that I have value and significance and gifts to offer, even when I'm so imperfect. 

And I bet you have that "good enough" gift to offer us as well. You certainly have worth and significance. So what imperfectly GOOD will you offer us all this nice round year? Crunch some cheeseballs. Envision it. Pick up that instrument, lace up those running shoes, register for that class, and get started!

I tried to get this out on Monday but life happens and blogs don't somedays. However, I've got to share Tanaya Winder. As I mentioned in my last blog I mentioned I'm taking a course on Native and Indigenous Communication Methods. It has been and will continue to be intensely altering to my understanding of the American experience. It has also led me to discover voices I never knew existed but am not the better for knowing. This is my small way of trying to place a bigger spotlight on people whose talent and perspectives have much to offer us.

Through the wonders of Twitter I discovered Tanaya Winders when I asked for recommendations for Native American and Indigenous poets I should seek out. This inquiry led me to Tanaya. I'm new to her work but I'm loving it. Tanaya has published books of poetry (her most recent being When Storms are Named After People But Bullets Remain Nameless). I know I usually post music, and Tanaya actually has some good music, but her poems I've read or seen her perform are just so good.

Two things of hers I found online to give you a taste of her art are as follows.

The first is a Ted Talk mix of narrative and poetry and a plea to live life fully in connection with others.

The second is a fantastically woven work of music I grew up on laced with love-discussions. Well done Tanaya!