South Africa - Day 3, Soweto

Day 3 started off VERY early. After 5 hours of sleep, I was up at 1am and didn’t know what to do with myself. I laid there in the bed for a while and finally decided to go out to the large conference table outside of my room to read and write a little. I was kind of hoping that someone else would be out there who was having the same problem as me. No luck. I started answering emails and within 20 minutes, Tristian appeared.



Ah!! Another night owl! We got started talking and not long after, Kareem appeared.



Looks like all 3 of the guys on the trip are night owls. We had a good time doing some male bonding… sharing our life stories, and the wisdom of life’s experiences very much in the tradition of our ancestors who were storytellers. I have to say that I am very impressed with these 2 young men. They are focused and determined, and they know what they want out of life. They have very clear goals, good mentors and role models, and they are in fact role models themselves. They also display a resilience that you could hear in their stories. Each of us has had experiences that could have taken us off track; instead those experiences have molded our character, and inspired us to work harder to reach for our goals. After a little while, Lindsay and Cienai appeared. Apparently we woke them up with our noisy conversation. Cienai ended up staying up with us until 5am or so, and she also shared life stories. I definitely enjoyed bonding with the 3 of them. OK, 5:30am, need to get some shut eye, so we can be ready for part 2 of day 3.

Part 2
Teboho Trust
The staff a TT is made up of executives, teachers, parents and former beneficiaries. The organization was formed as a result of a need observed by the organization's founder and visionary, Jose Bright.



Jose is a native of Compton, California. He is also a lawyer who was working in the mayor’s office in Washington, DC on various education initiatives before coming to South Africa. He worked with 4 of the poorest provinces in several departments of education. When he started off, he was doing consulting work around the new dispensations for education in SA. Similar to desegregation, many people were afraid that the new dispensations would result in a lower quality of education.

Part of the new dispensation was centered on a transition to OBE (Outcomes Based Education). Many of the teachers were not qualified to teach it. One of the problems is that it is more lucrative to enter corporate life in SA versus going into teaching. Sounds familiar. According to one of our hosts, teaching is a “failed” profession. She was counseled by friend to NOT go into education. Interestingly she rationalized herself going into education to fulfill a need for teachers who could learn to teach under the new OBE standards from scratch as opposed to old teachers who were resistant to the new process. This young lady was educated as a teacher, and is now teaching 4th grade.

It was during the time that Mr. Bright was doing his consulting work that he observed the dire needs of the children of Soweto.

-Soweto stands for South Western Township.-

Many of the children were orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and they were entangled in a cycle of poverty that seemed to have no end. Mr. Bright sat down and did some budgeting, and decided that he would fund the education of 5 children out of his own pocket. The 5 eventually became 7, and the 7 became 10. In January 2001 the organization officially started with 10 learners from orphaned, vulnerable households. Today they have 230 learners from grade 1 to senior in university, and 2 of the original 10 currently work at the center.

Mr. Bright did not want the organization named after him, so the name Teboho was chosen. Teboho is a name that is given to a child that is seen as a blessing. In 2002, in a bit of a crafty move, the township held a traditional blessing ceremony and gave Jose Bright the name, Teboho. The program is seen as wildly successful. It emphasizes a holistic approach to education utilizing 5 pillars: Social Development, Personal Development, Healthcare, Educational Support, and Economic Development. One of the initiatives that they would like to develop is targeted at the amagogo, the grannies. Due to the number of people dying of AIDS, the amagogo often end up being head of households with the families living off of their social security. They are increasingly in need of support. Tomorrow we will be spending the entire day at Teboho Trust as participants in their Saturday program. This is where much of the learning takes place. As part of our orientation we also learned some Zulu and some do’s and dont’s of body language. Mr. Bright has become a father figure to many of these children at great, but willing personal sacrifice. The stories we heard today indicate that there is a great deal of love and respect in Soweto for Mr. Bright. We are looking forward to seeing it firsthand tomorrow.

Apartheid, Jim Crowm and Education

There are a number of similarities between the development of public education systems in South Africa and the United States. Apartheid in South Africa bears striking similarities to the Jim Crow era. Not only are there similarities between these two abominable institutions of domination and tyranny, but there is also the presence of a continuing legacy of oppression that is manifest in lack of equality and in attitudes towards those who have been historically victimized by this kind of institutionalized racism. The impact on the culture and identity of a people cannot be underestimated, and the lingering affects of such atrocities cannot be overstated.

Elusive Equality (Vandeyar & Jansen) speaks of the long history of colonialism followed by four decades of Apartheid as having complicated South Africa’s pursuits of a more just system of education. This is easily comparable to a long history of slavery in America followed by nearly 100 years of Jim Crow segregation, which equally complicated African American’s pursuit of equity in education. It is not coincidence that the issues (inadequate political representation, poor schools, few opportunities for employment, and concentrated poverty) brought to roost as a result of both the dismantling of Apartheid and the dismantling of segregation were/are similar and are connected to the systems of education in many ways. Races, biologically speaking, were separated along geographical lines, but perhaps more importantly, they were often separated in their abilities to hope to attain their highest levels of academic achievement. Knowing my history makes that a difficult statement to make because I know full well how many African Americans achieved great success in spite of both Jim Crow and slavery in the US, as there are numbers of blacks from South Africa who could attest to achieving at high levels of success in spite of the difficulties created by these oppressive traditions; nevertheless, the overarching ethos was one that dictated what people were “not” capable of more so that what they could achieve. Blacks on both sides were often convinced that their positions as second class citizens were fixed, and the overwhelming poverty, as well as, the prevailing ideas about inferiority of the black race only served to further that mindset. According to Fisk and Ladd, a black middle class did develop under Apartheid, but the majority of Africans emerged from Apartheid bearing the vestiges of concentrated poverty and isolation. The vestiges included low educational attainment. The same can be said for African Americans as evidenced in Shame of a Nation (Kozol). These vestiges ultimately translate into privilege. In the end, some people had access to a quality education and some did not. This made education a privilege, and not a right. The ultimate crime is that the lack of access to a quality education and the resulting lower academic achievement across the board served to reinforce the myths of inferiority from both inside and outside of black culture. These myths cultivate feelings of white superiority from outside, and promote an identity formation based on stereotypes of inferiority from the inside (black culture).

Just as the South African educational system under Apartheid underinvested in the black Africans, so to did the education system in America under Jim Crow underinvest in the education of African Americans. The problems with both of these systems are still evident today in the continued existence of inequalities. There are persistent problems with under qualified teachers, lack of resources, poor facilities, and poor outlooks in both countries. Even if we begin to look at these issues from the perspective of class, we can still trace them back to the oppressive systems of colonialism/slavery and Apartheid/Jim Crow. Today we see the continued presence of poverty, poor housing, broken families, and poor healthcare haunting black communities in both South Africa and the United States. Both countries have come a long way, but we are not there yet.

Written by Frederick Hanna

South Africa – Day 2, Initial Thoughts

So, here we are in South Africa. We all cleared customs with no problems and we’re busy exchanging currency, and taking it all in. The airport in Johannesburg is not unlike an airport you would see in any major city. Those working in the airport remind you that this country is nearly 80% black. That’s actually a comforting feeling to someone who has lived their entire life in a country where blacks make up 12.5%. One of the reasons why South Africa was able to address black/white racism so openly post Apartheid is the fact that the oppressors were in the minority. Racism has a power dynamic that sheer numbers can impact. I am still looking to see if those numbers also impact hegemony here. Is a black African ethos dominating and determining the way, or are blacks here slaves to the culture of their former oppressors?

Beyond the airport, Johannesburg has an extensive highway system with amazing amounts of construction still in progress. There is also a great deal of new housing being built around the highways. We arrive at Pretoria’s campus, and again there is nothing that feels strange or out of the ordinary here beyond the accents. We will be staying at the University for a few days. Our first real excursion was a trip to the foreign affairs embassy just 2 hours after checking into our rooms. The people at the foreign affairs commission gave us a rundown on what they do, and talked about the positive relationship that they have developed with America since the Clinton years. They spoke very favorably of the relationship between the Bush administration and South Africa, and expressed excitement over the Obama administration. We were all probably a little tired for a meeting with the employees of the foreign affairs commission, but we managed to get through it. Had a nice walk into town before dinner to pick up some water etc., dinner wasn’t bad, and I had a great talk with Dr. Darren Clarke (the director of the South Africa Initiative) during dinner… time for a little sleep!

South Africa – Day 1, the Journey

After a fairly uneventful day of packing, no sleep, and wandering expectations, we were finally off. First leg of the journey was a 3am drive to NJ… from NJ, my mom took us into JFK. So far, so good! Everyone made it on time. In fact, most of us arrived early. Take off was on time. South Africa, here we come.

The flight to Johannesburg was 16 hours long, but it was a good 16 hours. The time passed easily. I read 1 ½ books, did a little writing, watched 2 movies, played several games of chess against a computer on the plane’s personal entertainment system, and chatted it up with friends. I didn’t sleep more than 3 hours the whole time. We had a bit of a rough landing, but they say any safe landing is a good one.

Race is A Social Reality

Race can be defined as, a socially constructed category, which implies that depictions of racial difference are human creations rather than external, essential categories.

A few months ago a classmate of mine, who's opinion I greatly respect made a statement regarding race that kind of threw me. We were discussing racism in urban schools, which is a primary aspect of what we do as educational anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, and practitioners—we all get a good slice of the race issue—when my colleague said something to the effect of, "I think this whole race as a social construct conversation is overused, and getting too much play." Now this struck me because as practitioners of social science and race theorists, we rely on this definition of race as a cornerstone of our understanding of racial dynamics and discriminatory practices; nevertheless, there was something in his comment that resonated with me. Every time I teach race as a "social construct" which makes complete sense to me and helps me to explain a number of racial dynamics that have played themselves out over a vast history of racism and discrimination in America, I see the image of myself as a black man and I know beyond a shadow of doubt that essentialist characteristics of race (phenotype, skin color, biological characteristics) still matter and still impact me wherever I go. Whatever the term or the logic we use to define race, when I walk into a department store, the stereotypes still apply; when I show any kind of emotional response to anything, the stereotypes still apply; when I walk down the street or drive down the road in a white neighborhood, the stereotypes still apply; even when I demonstrate academic excellence it seems to be posed as a matter of exception to be marveled at—Why?—because when people look at me, they don't see a social construct, they see a black man. Because of that, a big part of my life story involves shaking off those stereotypes.


Race, along with class, gender, etc. Are socially constructed, but they are also a social reality. "This means that after race—or class or gender—is created, it produces real affects on actors racialized as 'black' or 'white.' Although race, as other social structures is unstable, it has a 'changing same' quality at its core” (E. Bonilla-Silva). That is to say that while race does have dynamic elements that change and are reconstructed over time, there are also essentialist categories of race that remain fixed.

To ignore race as a social reality, which seems to be what many Americans want to do as we push towards a post-racial society, is to deny an entire history of racial exploitation which includes the near extermination of the Native American, the victimization of the Mexican, the exploitation of Asian contract laborers, and of course the dehumanization of the African which extended overtly into the Jim Crow era. The vestiges of this racial social order continue to manifest themselves in our country both materially and ideologically. The history of America is based upon a doctrine of white supremacy which gave rise to a racialized social system. This system bestowed privilege upon Europeans, and assigned deficit to non-Europeans. The result was systems of social relations that reinforce white privilege socially, economically, politically, etc. The tendency of actors racialized as white in this system is to actively struggle to maintain, or passively receive the merits of white privilege. Those assigned to the subordinate race have 2 choices: 1) struggle to change and challenge systemic and structural racism, or 2) become resigned to their position. Thus, the social reality of race and racism continues to play itself out regardless of what the "social construct" is doing. One must then conclude that while these social constructs are defined and redefined, inhabited, transformed, and reinvented, there are certain realities that remain fixed. Simply explaining them away as a social construct can’t work. This would only amount to justification of the status quo by pointing out that certain “races” need to “get over it” and move beyond their racial baggage. A justification which does little more than to affirm the social reality that the “get over it” argument attempts to dismiss.

Written by Frederick A Hanna

Who is your Barnabus? - Who has your back when no one else does?

Who's your Barnabus?

Barnabus was a Levite by birth whose name was originally Joseph. Joseph sold a field he owned and gave the proceeds to the apostles who in turn gave him a name of endearment, Barnabus, which means "Encourager."


It was Barnabus who vouched for Saul’s good character…
Acts 9:26-27 (NIV)

26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

It was Barnabus who encouraged the church at Antioch…
Acts 11:22-24 (NIV)

22News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

It was Barnabus who parted ways with Paul in order to encourage John Mark…
Acts 15:37-39 (NIV)

37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

Your Barnabus is your encourager. When all the world has turned on you and you feel that there is no one who has your back... your Barnabus steps up and tells you that you still matter... Your Barnabus steps in and says "I believe in you."

We all need people to encourage us, to believe in us, to speak words of affirmation to us. Someone to "light your candle and keep it lit, and to encourage you when it goes dark" (L Sweet).

A Barnabus' role is to encourage you, not placate you. "Some people will embalm you in flattery. That's not a Barnabus, that's a sycophant" (L Sweet). Sycophant! Now there’s a word you don’t hear everyday! It means “a servile self-seeking flatterer, a parasite.” People who encourage you by enshrining you can be dangerous. They can deceive into self conceit, and pride, which can in turn be the death of you. You need people who inspire the best in you… literally breathe life into you… not fawn you into self delusion. You’ll never grow that way.

Now don’t get your Barnabus confused with your Nathan (see previous blog entry – Who’s Your Nathan). The goal is the same, to move you forward, but the method is a little different. Len Sweet describes two types of hands, a fist and a palm. Your Nathan is a fist! Nathan will take the gloves off with no remorse. Barnabus is a palm. Barnabus will pat you on the back, touch you, feel your pain.

Just like we all need a Barnabus, we also need to be a Barnabus to others. The law of reciprocity really works. You reap what you sow. If you sow seeds of compassion and encouragement, you will reap the same in due season. When seeds of encouragement and compassion are sown into you, you should be careful to sow them back into others.

Exercise: Pick one day out of each week and make it your "Barnabus Day." Make it your business to encourage everyone you meet that day.
Speak a word of comfort!
Pay someone a compliment!
Tell someone “Thank you!”
Tell someone how wonderful you think they are!
Encourage someone!

“The word encouragement is from the French coeur: It means to put “heart” into someone.”

Who "hearts" you?

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Not Imitation, BUT Impartation

1 Corinthians 1:

30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,...

"The most wonderful secret of living a holy life does not lie in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfect qualities of Jesus exhibit themselves in my human flesh"
Oswald Chambers

Great quote from Chambers! Do I believe it? Well... not wholeheartedly. I think he's talking about sanctification, and my understanding of sanctification is that it is a process that takes place in our lives over the course of time. Its part of the process of BECOMING more and more like Jesus.

Do I think that Chambers is saying something different? Yes and No. I think he makes it sound as if the text says that we are wholly sanctified when we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, but I'm pretty certain based on his other writings that he doesn't believe that. I think that he is trying to tell us that in spite of the sinfulness of our lives, the atonement of Christ is in no way insufficient to cleanse us of our sins, and to impart to us what we need to live a life that is holy, acceptable, and pleasing unto God.

A butterfly isn't a caterpillar secretly trying to imitate a butterfly. A butterfly is a creature that once was a caterpillar, but has transformed into a butterfly... a NEW CREATURE!

So, let yourself off the hook a little. Stop living with the anxiety that you have to earn that which has been freely given. You're not an imitation... you're the product of an impartation.

Written by Frederick A Hanna

No seeking... No finding...

Ask, Search, Knock!!!

Matthew 7:

7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him

While the majority of the New Testament does not support the carte blanche, blank check petitionary prayer advocated by many Word of Faith teachers today, these verses are very explicit in that we should seek the generosity of God in all "good things."

While I don't like to throw around grammatical terminology too often, this is an occasion where it bears illumination... In verses 7-8 of this text, we have what is called a triple imperative (3 charges or direct commands) followed by a triple assurance... "3 that's the magic number!"

ASK! SEEK! KNOCK! - GIVEN! FOUND! OPENED!

Its also worth noting that the triple imperative is in the present tense, which could be interpreted in an extreme way as,

"Keep on asking" "Keep on seeking" "Keep on knocking"

While that may be a slight overstatement, this text indicates that God does respond to those who seek Him with all their hearts. The text is an invitation to "ask." Whenever I teach, I like to state that "the only stupid question is the one not asked" as a way to encourage questions. If you don't ask, you may never get an answer. The premise is repeated thrice here... if you don't seek, you may never find... if you don't knock, you might be left outside in the rain...

One of the key phrases here is "good things" v11. This picks up on previous verses in Matthew 6:25-34, which indicate that while God may not supply all of our wants, He is infinitely concerned about our needs.

Written by Frederick A Hanna

http://troublethewaters.blogspot.com/

Who's Your Timothy? - Do you pour the richness of your life's journeys into another?

Who Is Your Timothy?

This next relationship is a little different than the last few because this is not a relationship that has as much of an inward focus as the others. This relationship is directed outward. Timothy was Paul’s mentee. This was the kid that Paul took under his wing. The one to whom Paul taught all he knew.

Len Sweet tells of an old African proverb about a band of elephants that come upon a raging river. The big elephants don’t even hesitate. They just step right on through the rough waters, but the small elephants freeze. They are afraid to take the first step into the raging waters. “Elephants are known for never forgetting.” As the big elephants are crossing, one of them looks back at the smaller elephants standing on the banks and shouts to the elephants in the front, “Brother, we have some folks who haven’t made it into the water.” The bigger elephants don’t hesitate at all; they get back into the water and stand shoulder to shoulder until their bodies create a dam that slows the water enough for the smaller elephants to cross over.

“How many people who make it in life, who get to the other side, forget to remember?”

How many people who have experienced all of the ups and downs, the pitfalls and valleys, the strange twists that life can take, refuse to turn back and help those who are following those same paths?

One thing I’ve noticed today is that many of us tend to see people following in our footsteps as threats to our positions as opposed to necessary helpers, and perhaps mediators, and harbingers of change. A wise boss once told me, “Fred, I want to teach you everything I know. I want you to be able to do my job at least as good as I can. That way, if a position opens up that I want to bid on, there will be no reason to hold me here because you’ll be ready to step in.” Now don’t read too much into that statement and think that my old boss, Mike, was being selfish. Mike, knew that in order for him to move forward, he needed to train up someone to be able to at least fill his shoes. In fact, Mike always told me that I was smarter than him and could do more than he could ever do. So he made me his protégé.

Timothy was Paul’s protégé. He was a younger, less mature version of Paul. He was a single-parent child who Paul called “son.” Paul was duplicating a relationship that he had in his own life... In Paul’s life, before he had a Timothy, he had to be a Timothy. His mentor was Gamaliel. Did you have a mentor? Someone who showed you the way? Someone who schooled you on the tricks of the trade? Someone who could position your mistakes as teaching moments to move you further along your path?

Maybe its time for you to pass that wealth of experience and wisdom you have developed onto another. It will enrich your life.

Here’s a note for Timothy’s and Paul’s alike… Your Timothy doesn’t need to be—should not be, your clone. Natural reproduction does not produce clones. Natural reproduction produces something that is unique, different, perfectly imperfect… So why should your Timothy be any different. How boring would life be if we were all alike? More importantly, how stagnant would our worlds be if we lived in a system full of clones?

Allow your Timothy to be different, remembering that different doesn’t mean better, or worse for that matter… different doesn’t mean wrong… different just means different. Some of the people I love most in this world are the ones who embrace the fact that I am different… that I don’t fit into anyone’s mold and don’t want to… that allow me to be me with no regrets. Those differences can breed innovation… change… transformation… They can enrich your life if you would only embrace them. So, as your Timothy grows, allow her/him to be themselves and to embrace the fullness of all that they are called to be.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Be Humble or Be Humbled

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 'But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 'I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.' Luke 18:9-14 TNIV

I remember Bishop Hilliard preaching this text to the church many years ago, and I think many of us saw ourselves in the Pharisee, then again, perhaps I am just revealing the conviction I felt in my own heart at the words of his sermon. Religion isn't all about rites and rituals, following patterns cut from a cloth, speaking words without knowledge... or maybe "religion" is about such things, BUT faith is about reliance on a power greater than thine own and humbling oneself beneath that power. Faith doesn't make you better than other people, but hopefully it makes you a better person.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Not By Eloquence of Speech, BUT By Power

1 Corinthians 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Paul said that his message and his preaching had nothing to do with his own wisdom, or his own eloquence... nothing to do with his personality, or his own charisma... nothing to do with his looks, or his fashion statement... nothing to do with his cleverness, or his intellect... nothing to do with his educational biography, or his pedigree...

Real effective preaching has to do with one thing, the demonstration of the power of the Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit demonstrating the power of God through a human being. A human being who serves as little more than the conduit between God and God's people. A good preacher knows that he/she is merely the bearer of the message, not the source.

On one occasion when Bishop John Bryant came to preach at the Cathedral International, he used the Triumphant Entry (Mark 11:1-11) from which we derive our Palm Sunday celebrations to demonstrate this case. Bishop Bryant considered what the "donkey" may have been thinking as Jesus rode his back into the city of Jerusalem (8-10).

8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

As the crowds were shouting Hosanna and waving palm branches, Bishop Bryant suggests that the donkey was probably thinking, "Look at how these people are praising me." The people were not in fact praising the donkey of course, but the one the donkey was carrying. "What a jackass," Bishop Bryant proclaimed, "to think that he, a donkey, was being praised by all these people." According to Bishop Bryant, "There are a whole lot of jackass preachers" (seriously, I couldn't possibly make this up). Point being, some preachers seem to think that they are the ones who should be recieving praise from people, but a preacher simply carries the message of salvation to the people who need it. The message is in fact riding in on the back of the preacher, as Jesus rode in on the back of the donkey. Paul was saying that the excellency of God would be veiled if all people saw was him as he carried the message. It is God who redeems and saves by the power of the Spirit! It is God's redemption that yields the fruit of salvation.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Sessions at Sotomayor of the "Latina Woman" Experience

Sessions doesn't know his history. Minorities have always understood America’s history as predicated upon a value system that was more often expressed in word than deed, but was nevertheless shared by both the oppressed and the oppressors. The history of suffering, that has been the minority experience, often allowed for an infusion of a moral and spiritual character otherwise absent in America’s history. Thus, Mr. Sessions, the voice of the Latina woman, the perspective of the Latina woman, the experience of the Latina woman, is inseparable from the American experience, and necessary in the American judicial system. We need the Latina woman on the Supreme Court. Only when every voice is heard, can the scales of justice begin to be balanced not in favor of any one group, but in favor of justice and truth.

A Great Physician Only Cuts So That You Can Be Healed…

I had minor dental surgery today, and I am intrigued as I sit here reflecting on the surgery and the weekend preceding it. I started experiencing pain in a wisdom tooth at the end of May. Since our Alaskan cruise was quickly approaching, I was torn between seeing a dentist and leaving for Alaska with stitches in my mouth, or risking that it wouldn’t get any worse over the course of the vacation. I opted for a compromise. I went to the local pharmacy and picked up a temporary filling kit. I took the little do-it-yourself dental kit home, followed the instructions, filled the hole in the broken tooth, and… Guess what? No more pain. I tucked the kit into my shaving bag the next day as I packed for vacation in case I needed a second treatment. Turns out the filling held up throughout the entire vacation. Not even a Dungeness crab feast was able to crack that filling. Though I was aware that the packaging on the do-it-yourself kit said “temporary filling” and asserted that this was only a short term fix, I felt confident that it would be a long time before I needed to actually see a dentist. Every time the pain returned, I would treat it with another dose of temporary filling and it worked and worked and worked… until it stopped working last week. One and a half months later, it stopped working. Now the pain was getting worse, and funny thing, when I tried to refill the hole, the filling material actually made the pain more intense. That was last Thursday. I called the dentist and left a message… no one returned my call… tomorrow the weekend starts… the pain is getting worse… what will I do? The next thing you know, its Friday night, and the pain is increasing. I took 2 ibuprofen, and an hour later the pain clicked off like a light switch. Ahh! I’ll make it through the weekend with my new friend ibuprofen. Saturday, and the pain is getting worse again… 2 ibuprofen, and the pain was gone. One difference this time, the pain was back in a few hours. This time it kept me up all night, and bothered me all through church Sunday. After church I got some Orajel. That worked to ease the pain and got me through an afternoon of laughing and joking with my in-laws, but it only worked as long as it was in contact with the tooth. As for the rest of the evening, let’s just say that Sunday night was the worst. The pain was so bad that my wife ended up giving me something a little stronger which eased the pain and knocked me out at about 5 a.m. Monday morning.

OK, let me cut to the chase. I had surgery today, Monday. They pulled the tooth, and I was RELIEVED. Here’s the interesting part. The pain and discomfort of the surgery was a great improvement over the pain and discomfort of the toothache. AND guess what? The pain from the surgery will go away in a few days as my mouth heals.

Funny how we put off things that will truly heal us in favor of temporary fixes that give us only an illusion of healing. We go through life trying this and that, getting temporary relief, but never finding the healing… the peace… the WHOLENESS we desire. So many things in life cut us to the very core. So many things create wounds that we carry with us throughout our lives. Some of us have open wounds that bleed on people we meet and soil relationships because we’ve never been truly healed. The wonder of a GREAT PHYSICIAN is the cutting that heals. A great physician only cuts so that you can be healed… made whole. Stop running today, and get some surgery.

Frederick A. Hanna

Who’s Your Jethro? – You Need Someone Who Can Bless You Forward.

So who was Jethro? Jethro was a Midianite high priest who happened to be Moses’ father-in-law. It was there beyond the wilderness where Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law that he encountered the presence of God. This was an authentic God moment. Its one of those rare Old Testament encounters where a mere mortal gets to behold the glory of God. In this encounter Moses was informed of his destiny, and of the source of his power and purpose…

Exodus 3:14 (New King James Version)

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

In the midst of this encounter, Moses also expressed doubt about his own abilities to accomplish what God had proclaimed...

Exodus 4:1 (NKJV)

1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

Exodus 4:10 (NKJV)

10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

BUT God assured Moses that ample resources would be in place to overcome his shortcomings…

Exodus 4:2 (NKJV)

2 So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”

Exodus 4:11 (NKJV)

11 So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?

Now you would think that after all of this, Moses would have just launched out and done as God had instructed, BUT he didn’t. AND this is where Jethro reenters the narrative! He went into the tent of his father-in-law, and asked “Ummm, Ummm, Ummm, can I go check on my peeps?”

Exodus 4:18 (NKJV)18

So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

Now, I’m making a big exegetical assumption which might preach well but may not be entirely true, BUT what I am seeing here based on Moses idiosyncrasies and character flaws, is a moment of doubt…

…Well, Jethro had the power right there to stop Moses in his tracks and say “No”… “No, Moses, you cannot go.” AND what would Moses have done then? I’m not sure what he would have done, but I can tell you that I have been in situations where the word of God had been declared over my life and I needed someone with some maturity, some experience, some foresight, to get behind me and give me a good push, or a swift kick and say “Go.” Very rarely did they say “go” to me, in fact they often said nothing at all. So I either sat confused and wondering… stayed in a holding pattern unable to advance… OR I was placed in a position of having to chose between severing a meaningful relationship and moving forward, or sitting still and slowly wasting away…

Well for all you would be Jethro’s out there, let’s look at what Jethro says in this situation… Jethro says lech l’shalom, which literally means, “go to peace.” Most of the time this phrase is translated as “go in peace” which is a slightly different Hebrew phrase, lech b’shalom. See the difference? In this case, there is a big difference between “to” and “in.” The phrase “go in peace” is a typical farewell blessing which can indicate “resting in wholeness or perfection” (L. Sweet), whereas “go to peace” symbolizes a forward blessing. Its more like ”go forward and get all that your destiny holds!”

According to Len Sweet: “’Go to Peace!’ has the peacemaking sense of shalom, and the channeling of energy that brings wholeness and wellness to the world.”

Sweet also notes that one of the most powerful acts you can do to another human being is to bless them forward…

Rabbi Jonathan Magonet says, (paraphrasing) You can’t be “at peace” until you go “to peace” so that one day you can rest “in peace.”

We all need Jethro’s, not to cosign our foolishness… not to flatter us and toot our horns… not to patronize and ingratiate us… not to “kiss our butts” and coddle us… BUT

… to encourage us to go forward!
… to not let us cease in well doing!
… to tell us not to lose heart when we go through seasons of doubt!
… to break us, or better yet kick us out of our holding patterns!
… to tell us to “use whatcha’ got!”
… to affirm what God has already confirmed!

TO TELL US, “You can win,” “You can succeed,” “You have purpose,” God has plans for you. Plans of good and not of evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope!

Are you a Jethro? Is there someone you need to call, set up a meeting with, write a letter to? Someone who needed and needs you to bless them forward? I want to encourage you to reach out to that person today. Withholding a blessing can be as detrimental as not receiving one.

We all need people who directly or indirectly give us permission to make progress. Of course your destiny doesn’t ultimately depend on this permission, but it might just be the catalyst you need.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Who's Your Jonathan? - Your TRUE FRIEND

There was one person who David could always count on. This person would never let him down, always had his back, always put him in position to win, was always willing to dim his own light that David's light might shine more brightly. That one person was Jonathan.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (New King James Version)

1 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

Jonathan was a true friend, not a best friend but a true friend, not a BFF but a true friend. The Message version of the Bible translates Proverbs 18:24 as,

"Friends come and friends go,
but a true friend sticks by you like family."

Now I realize that many of us have family members who aren't very close and never will be, but in the biblical sense, this verse can be likened to the old adage, "blood is thicker than water," indicating the closeness of blood kinship. In this case, this true friend is thicker than blood!

1 Samuel 18:1 says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul.-- A soul friend is the epitome of a true friend and sees you as a kind of SECOND SELF.

"The true friend is, so to speak, a second self."
Cicero

According to Leonard Sweet:

A Jonathan believes in you when no one else does.
A Jonathan is loyal even when you make it hard to be loyal.
A Jonathan is the first to call in good times or bad.
A Jonathan gives and gives and wants nothing in return.
A Jonathan walks with you through every season of your life.

I have to say this because I have debated with more than a few folk about the meaning of "friend." I don't call many people "friend." Friend is a deeply intimate term for me. I have a number of acquaintances, many of them very dear. In my youth a had a "crew" that I hung out with... my homeboys. I had guys I played ball with, women I talked on the telephone and went to the movies with, people I partied with, even people I worshiped with at church... people I loved, but how many of them were true friends? To quote the hip hop group Whodini, "The dictionary doesn't know the meaning of friend." I'll just say that for me, a friend is a very special individual, and a true friend is priceless.

A Jonathan has at least 3 characteristics

1) A "What's in it for YOU attitude"

Be careful of people who only want to be close to you because of what you can do for them. Some people can make you feel great about yourself for all the wrong reasons. They put you up on a pedestal and anoint you king or queen. This is when you need your Nathan to come in and straighten you out! (see my previous blog entry)... The point I'm trying to make is that some people will get close to you with a "What's in it for me" attitude. They know that they stand to gain something from their relationship with you and that's the sole reason why they are in the relationship. A Jonathan on the other hand has a "What's in it for YOU attitude." They can put their own ambitions on the back burner and champion you, just because they love you.

2) Establishes a level of intimacy with you.

Relationships exist at many levels. I have heard it said that people come into your life for a "reason, a season, or a lifetime" and different levels of truth and trust are required to sustain different types of relationships. Jonathan's have established intimacy with you. You can share your dark side, your secret sins, your private pains, your old unhealed wounds, and your Jonathan will love you anyway.

3)Pay the cost.

I have heard it said that anything worth having will cost you something. A Jonathan knows that there is a cost associated with true friendship. To be a true friend requires great sacrifice and a Jonathan is willing to "Pay The Cost."

Who's your Jonathan? The person who would give their very last that you might live... the one who is willing to fall back, so that you can move forward... the one who feels your pain as though it were their own and rejoices in your triumph as though it were their own victory?

We all need a Jonathan. Someone who will allow us to be ourselves with no shame or regret. Someone who loves us, not because of, but in spite of who we really are.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Who's Your Nathan?

Those of you who are familiar with the narrative of biblical writ in the life of King David may also be acquainted with the ministry of the prophet Nathan. It was Nathan who had the "gonads" to go to King David after he had looked upon, defiled and impregnated the wife (Bathsheba) of Uriah, and then sent Uriah to face certain death on the front lines. Lust, Adultery, and Murder all in one fell swoop. What a trifecta! You go David! When you sin, you do it BIG boy! David would have been content to keep this little triple play of debauchery to himself, if it were not for the prophet's willingness to point out the err of his ways.

2 Samuel 12:7

7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Nathan said, "David, you da man!" Oh wait a minute, before that line gets caught up in modern day colloquialisms, and you think that Nathan was saying something like, "You go boy"; "Get your swag right player"; "You da OG, original playa playa pimp don dadda."... we should read a few more verses...

Let's try 8-10

8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'

This "You're the man" was more like "You're the fool." Is there anyone in your life who is allowed to point their finger in your face and tell you "you are really screwing things up, and if you don't make some changes, you're on a collision course with calamity." We all need editing from time to time, and some of us need editing all the time! But I'm not writing a book here, I'm only blogging!

The name Nathan means gift. Nathan was a gift to David, because he had the wisdom and courage to step to David and EDIT him before it was too late. AND David, despite all of his mistakes, had the wisdom to give Nathan permission to speak to him... to "keep it real" with him.

Your Nathan will "help you get under your own skin," "ask you tough, intrusive questions," "help you to see the truth about who you are." Nathan's can be hard to take sometimes, but Nathan's Edit you because they love you, and they are concerned for your future. They want to see you reach your destiny. Don't shun the "Nathan" in your life, embrace her/him because they only want what's best for you.

Who's your Nathan? Did you hang up on him yesterday and tell him to never call back? Did you tell her that her advice was unsolicited and unwanted? Did you curse the day you ever met?

Your Nathan is a gift! Your future may hinge upon your willingness to hear your Nathan.

(Heavily influenced by the writing of Len Sweet)

Written by Frederick A. Hanna