I WAS CALLED A "CRACKER"
Was I offended?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for being a subscriber to The Three Taverns.
This month Emily and I will celebrate 40 years of marriage. We were married July 20th in 1985. I was 20 and she was 19. We were kids!
We grew up together. We have had amazing adventures in faith together. We have had six amazing kids who are now married (all got married young, too!) and so far we have 17 grandchildren.
In the spirit of the number “40” I thought about something that happened to me at the age of 40 that might be funny to recount.
I WAS CALLED A “CRACKER.”
On the day I turned 40 years old, we had a family dinner. As men like to brag to make sure they are still as strong and virile as ever, I made the statement that I could still hold my body out at 90 degrees from a pole using just my arms.
My soon to be son-in-law Matt was sitting at the table and said, “Man challenge! I dare you to prove it!” So my whole crew piled out of the house to our back courtyard where our basketball goal was.
Everyone was standing around me when I grabbed the pole (very wet after a rain) and without hesitation I jumped my legs up with total confidence that I was going to hoist my body straight out and hold there.
I didn’t take into account that the pole was wet.
My hands slid right down the pole, slicing my fingers up and I face-planted on the concrete! I heard a loud “woomp” as my face bounced off of the ground. I heard one of my daughters scream, still don’t know how, as she reacted to seeing her Dad smash his cheek on the ground with the full weight of his body. I saw a light like a camera flash as my brain rattled in my head.
I immediately sat straight up because I knew if I didn’t I would black out. I had smashed my left cheek to jelly, thankfully not breaking the bone, but erupting the skin.
It ruined the party. I staggered inside while my wife got me a pack of ice to put on my sore face. My ego hurt worse than my face. To make matters even worse I was flying out the next morning to speak in a conference in West Palm Beach, Florida over the weekend. And I was speaking in an all-black conference as the only white man on the roster!
I was not in a great mood as I made my way through the BNA and sat on the flight to Ft. Lauderdale and make the drive to West Palm because I had a huge bandage covering up half of the left side of my face. But it was the only way to cover up the oozing sore underneath.
I felt ridiculous as I made my way to the podium the first time with a huge bandage on my left cheek. I was introduced by the leader of the conference as a “Cracker from Tennessee” before my first speech. I don’t know how he thought that was going to be an encouraging way to introduce me for the first of 4 messages I was scheduled to give, but being the only pale face in the crowd of about 1,000 dark faces, I decided to make the best of it.
Rather than get offended I stood up and introduced myself by telling a crazy story about how I blasted my cheek open. I told them a story about how “White men can’t jump” and filled in with some funny details.
The next time I spoke later in the day I told an imaginary story about how I had made up the story earlier and the reality was I had “jumped so high I hit my face on the backboard dunking the basketball.”
Every fantasy narrative was different and crazier.
The crowd laughed at my expense, but also really warmed up to my messages, so much so that the leader of the conference kept quoting my teachings and scriptures as he exhorted the group through the 3-day conference. We also had breakout sessions and my sessions by the third day were by far the largest in the conference.
I learned some lessons.
First, I was not the one with human “power,” as I was definitely in the minority in that room. But I gained MORAL power by choosing NOT to be offended and to humanize myself by laughing along with them and turning it in the favor of my message, which was more important than my ego.
Second, I learned that acting in love, valuing others as you value yourself, is actually the best way to handle insults. Calling me a “cracker” was racist. Choosing to have a soft answer and not be offended was redemptive.
Third, don’t accept man-challenges without testing the environment!
TAVERN TALKS TUESDAYS
“A safe place to be real.”
“Authentic and challenging.”
“Feels like what church is supposed to be.”
These are all statements made about Tavern Talks.
Last week someone in our group prayed, "God, thank you for this church." As I have believed, taught and walked out for many years church can be found everywhere because church is who you are and not where you go.
Recently I prayed with a lady who was a professional truck driver. She was incredibly concerned about her daughter who lives in Chattanooga as she told me she believes she has walked away from God. This Mom just wept to me as we talked about it. I prayed with her and said, "God, let Kristy run into your church everywhere she goes trying to run away from You. In every bar, every bed, every party, every coffee shop, every job...YOU and YOUR CHURCH are there!"
On Tuesdays we are going to start hearing from some guys on their second round of sharing. Round one everyone tells their story, where they came from, how their life has taken shape, what has influenced them, how God has encountered them along the way.
Round two will be guys sharing “What God is Teaching Me In My Life Now.” John Mathis did a great job sharing from his heart last week.
We are blessed each week by men giving us all a glimpse into their life and things they are overcoming.
COMING UP:
July 1- Josh Arnold- My Story- new grandfather, project manager at a health company, worship leader at a large Brentwood congregation.
July 8- Allen Blaxton- My Story- 25 year Navy man, ground support for Blue Angels, professional drummer
We look forward to every week together.
Tavern Talks is about our stories and God’s story. It’s not about perfect people with perfect stories but authentic working out this salvation in our lives.
Each Tuesday morning at 7am you will find two to three dozen men gathered to hear each other’s stories, to encourage one another, to teach scripture and pray together.
This gathering is at The Mission Cigar & Social in Spring Hill.
Bring your coffee, your Bible, Febreze if you go to the office after, an open mind and open heart. You can purchase a cigar as well to enjoy your first cigar of the day.
We are really grateful to Mark, Monte and Willie for opening up The Mission early each Tuesday and participating in Tavern Talks!
CHRIST IN CULLEOKA
Culleoka, TN is a beautiful community 10 minutes south of Columbia. Emily and I have been making friends here in this place and I have been pastoring/teaching at a small church called Sweetwater Church.
It is full of families with young children, with some young adults growing in the Lord, and a group of mature believers who encourage each other daily. It is a wonderful fellowship that we are growing to love.
We meet at 11:30am on Sunday mornings. I actually love the later time because it makes for a very relaxed Sunday morning! We meet in the Glendale United Methodist church building at 1423 Culleoka Hwy, Columbia TN.
We have been studying Ephesians and learning that we are SEATED WITH CHRIST and now WALKING WITH CHRIST.
We have come to Ephesians 6 and our STANDING WITH CHRIST. We will spend the month of July talking about our warfare in this world as believers:
Week 1: STAND UP: Introduction to the War
Week 2: SUIT UP: Setting the Captives Free
Week 3: SHUT UP: The Greatest Demonic Battle
Come jump in with us and let’s walk this out together.
Looking Up!
Tod Bell