Every once and a while you run into an old photograph that just leaves you in awe.



This is Dawnshelle's uncle Doug as a teen atop a pony. It's clear by the pained equine expression that the poor animal is no match for the stature of the rider. Still, there's just something amazing about this image. You really can't stage something this authentic. The peg leg pants. The socks. The penny loafers. The lack of a saddle. I think his feet are only inches from the ground. Quintessential Suburban Cowboy.

Someday soon I will learn the true story of this photograph. And I will publish it here for all to read. Consider this a teaser.

This is part 8 of a series of posts that interact with Guy Kawasaki's 10 principles of "evangelism." Refer to my February 22, 2006 post for the set up.

Principle 8:

Ignore pedigrees. Good evangelists aren’t proud. They don’t focus on the people with big titles and big reputations. Frankly, they'll meet with, and help, anyone who “gets it” and is willing to help them. This is much more likely to be the database administrator or secretary than the CIO.

This is a great principle of evangelism. Pride has no role. Anyone can be evangelized—anyone who is willing to listen. Do not play favorites or be prejudicial.

I’m going to drill down into the topic of prejudice with this post. Sorry for the digression. But I think it will be worth it.

I finally got around to seeing Crash on DVD last night. With two kids, we don’t often make it to a cinema to see films in their initial release.

Watching Crash was like a two-hour gut punch. With so many characters—most if not all exhibiting some form of prejudice, stereotyping or racism—it was too easy to find something of myself on the screen. Very troubling.

Now, I have deep agreement with the racial reconciliation mission of my church. I believe in equality under God for every person. All are made in His image. All are equally injured by sin. All have unsurpassable worth. This is high truth.

Col 3:11 TNIV “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Gal 3:28 TNIV “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Yet, I do see ugly glimpses of myself in the characters of Crash. While there are those extreme examples in the film (the kind that make you say, “I could never do or say that—that’s terrible!”), it’s the subtle behaviors that are the most disturbing—the well-hidden, barely noticed, but subversive feelings of insecurity and fear that tend to push us to our worst moments. A flippant remark. A judgmental facial expression. A wrong conclusion jumped to.

Granted, it’s not like this world is a safe place. It’s a war zone (quite literally in many places). There’s a lot to be afraid of. Fear drives the Sherman tank of this spirit warfare right through our souls. We often mistake fellow human citizens for the spiritual insurgents that prey on a fallen humanity. We put labels and judgments on fellow victims of this warfare. Mug shots and suspect descriptions are on the 11 o’clock news every night. We find ready reinforcements for our fear all around us.

This kind of fear is behind my own thoughts and words when I descend to anything less than love for my fellow humans. Of this I continue to repent—as often as I must.

Colossians 3:7-8 TNIV “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

(Sidebar: Often Christians have defined “filthy language” in this passage as expletives, etc. I think this should be applied more broadly. “Filth,” as I choose to define it, must be any words or thoughts that degrade and devalue our fellow humans, even if we do it with G-rated or even biblical language. Crash is R-rated and full of filth, both in expletive and G-rated forms.)

Fear begets more fear. If I live in it, I will die in it.

Romans 8:12-16 TNIV “If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

There is that wonderful idea that we are God’s children—His offspring, each one with the complete and total worth He ascribes to us.

This terrified old man of sin inside of me—the one that resists leaving my secure suburban bubble, avoids certain parts of the city, resists interacting with other races and mutters shameful stereotypes in my mind—must be daily put to death.

I’ve posted about fear and evangelism before in this series (episode 5), but I think it is very central to the question of racial reconciliation on an individual level. What the film Crash exposed for me with painful clarity was the leading role fear plays.

But I know there is no fear in love. Fear is a manifestation of evil. As difficult as it may be to believe at times, this societal fear we are immersed in is connected to the sin that enslaves all of humanity. It was not God’s idea. But love is God’s answer.

1 John 4:16-18 TNIV “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear….”

How do I do it, then? How do I live in love and drive out fear every moment of every day?

I need to step out and go to where I can break through this enemy stronghold and tear down the prison walls. I need to live this out intentionally by building relationships across these societal divides. I need to put myself in a position to act in love and for love’s cause. Too often I prefer to avoid it instead.

It’s like having a phobia. One can either avoid the triggers or try to beat it. Often people undergoing psychotherapy to cure a phobia work towards a point where they confront and experience the thing that they are most afraid of: flying in a plane, riding in an elevator, listening to David Hasselhoff music—whatever it may be. They must ultimately act to break through the stronghold and gain victory over their fears.

So it is with my own fears. But I am not asked to act alone. I have my Father to embrace me as His child. I have the Holy Spirit to empower me. I have Jesus to show me how to live this way. I can act in love with great confidence knowing that I participate in dealing the death blow to the real enemy in the spiritual war to overcome the divisive evil that enslaves humanity. But I must act.

Romans 12:21 TNIV “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

[POST AMENDED 7/28/06]

A few days after I posted this is stumbled across this passage in James in reading to my Daughter. This pretty much drives it home (and writes me under the table):

James 2:1-10 TNIV "My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor person in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the one who is poor, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

Mercy me.

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