Thanks, Ryan...

I met with my friend Ryan earlier today... he's white and I'm black, so the conversation naturally gravitated very quickly to the issue of our newly-elected President. We haven't known each other for very long, so we shared about some of our upbringing, and what role race/prejudice played in our lives as we grew up.

Then, he shared something that I thought was very enlightening...

He said (not in these exact words), "Many of us (whites) are scared, because we're so used to seeing a white guy in a suit running our nation. Having a black President is something that's SO new, it's just thrown us off-balance, and we don't know what to do with that."

Thanks, Ryan... I appreciate your honesty. It's very refreshing.

Of course, I (and others) had a hunch that that was an issue... but it was good to hear it voiced. We often don't realize how much quicker we'll move down the road to healing when we simply are honest with each other. "Hey, man... this is new territory for me! We've always run this country... and, in the back of our minds, that's the way it's supposed to be! It just is!"

See, I can work with that (and, no, Ryan didn't say that last part). And I was able to speak to Ryan's concerns thoughtfully and in love, because I knew he was being honest and transparent. That's why we're friends... that's why our relationship will get stronger. If only we could do this as a nation...

The apostle Paul said, "But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another" (Gal. 5:15). Sooner or later, this whole thing is gonna get out-of-hand if we're not careful... and I'm speaking to myself on this one, too. I've never been as cynical and sensitive in my whole life as I have been over the last few weeks. Truthfully, some people have deserved D-Plum's criticisms (you know who you are); their comments have been both unguarded and untimely. But others have received responses from me, and were left shaking their heads... "What did I say??" Hindsight allows me to see why... unless one can walk a few miles in your shoes, they just don't understand; they must be shown and not just corrected. So, if I flair up on someone, but don't really help them to see what it was that angered me, neither of us is helped in the situation.

Dialogue precedes dismantling.

I really believe good things are in our country's future... whenever change is on the horizon, the opportunity is there to move forward as a people. As Christ-followers... black, white, yellow, brown, red, whatever... let's use this opportunity to show a world without Christ that He is preeminent and supercedes all our petty differences.

C'mon... let's stop biting and devouring one another.