Remember Remember the Titans?

Moving to Jacksonville has changed my thought process a bit on many things. Here are some things I never thought about before while watching Remember the Titans for the first time in about a decade.

1. Coach Boone's white neighbors applaud him one night when they are going to the state championship game. When Boone first moves into their current home, the neighbors were nervous about black people taking over their neighborhood. Only when their home town high school football team performs well do they accept him, celebrate him, and applaud him (from a distance).

2. Ryan Gosling was a string bean in this movie.

3. What was supposed to be a "get this over with" meet and greet between Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell turned out to be, in my opinion, the most powerful scene in the movie. Their raw anger and brutal honestly towards each other brought out the best change in one of the next scenes where Gerry gets on his white teammates for not blocking for the black QB. Julius, who recently lost a friend who got shot by a white business owner, was playing for himself and no one else. What team?

4. The Hall of Fame committee played a part in trying to rig a game in order for Coach Boone to get fired in order for Coach Yoast to be reinstated as head coach. This made me think, "Hmmm, I wonder if either of those NFL Conference Championship games were rigged."

5. Lastly, I never noticed subtleties in the following scenes of the movie.

Disgruntled football parent: He's not some walk-on scrub, Yoast. The boy's a player. He's a star. And he busted his butt for you. [Turns to Coach Boone] This is all your doing, you black---

Yoast: That is enough. It's my call.

Parent: Now listen.

Yoast: You just go on home now, Fred, before you do something that you're going to regret.

Doc: [Sighs] Yeah, well...I guess we won't be seeing much of him, huh?

Yoast: I will. He's on the deacon board with me.

Boone: [Laughs]

Gerry: I'm going to play basketball with Julius. Then we're going to come back here for dinner.

Mom: Gerry, if your father was still alive---

Gerry: Ma, would--just give him a chance. Just get to know him.

Mom: I don't want to get to know him. You are coming to church with your mother.

I never thought much about the underlined sentences when I saw this movie when I was younger, the irony of Gerry's mom being so committed to having her son come to church with her while wanting to keep black people out of her sight. Gerry was going to hang out with Julius, a black teammate whom she wanted nothing to do with. In the first scene, the disgruntled football parent's character doesn't quite match what you might expect in the deacon of a church either. Boone's laugh never made sense growing up until watching this movie again.

Unfortunately, this movie is still all too relevant today. Although segregation is illegal, in appearance it would seem that many people conduct their lives in a very segregated way. What might it be like if we had a Coach Boone forcing us to spend each day getting to know a brother of a different race, asking questions about their families, their likes and dislikes. There is too much hate, too much ignorance, too much talking and not enough listening.

What is discrimination like?

Zero fun, Sir.

That You May Abound In Hope

A crowd of people lined up outside. It was a chilly December morning, but they waited nonetheless. Too early for sunlight to sneak over the tall buildings of downtown Jacksonville, which made it even chillier. So many faces, stories, and expectations. Some may not have possessed home addresses, some may have been disappointed time and time again in the past, some had a criminal record, which in employers' eyes either taints or eliminates their chances. How could a job fair change the direction of one's life?

Last month, 2nd Mile partnered with the Better Together Job Fair, volunteering our time to help it run smoothly. I held a parking sign and waved it at traffic, directing them to an open field near where the fair was taking place. There were companies, businesses, lawyers, and counselors also giving their time to make sure that people were given the chance to either fill out applications, schedule interviews, or in some cases, be offered a job on the spot. Standing on the corner with my sign, I mostly just engaged with people that had yet to enter the job fair. On one occasion, a woman in a van pulled over to where I was, rolled down her window and explained with the biggest smile on her face, "I got a job!" I have friends and family that don't even look me in eyes with such familiarity and excitement, and I don't even know this woman. Oh yeah, she also won a bike in a raffle to help her get to and from work. Many others walked away from the fair, walking their bikes alongside them with newfound pride. Each one of those anticipatory faces early on, hopefully, got one step closer to the direction they were hoping. For those with a criminal record, many places of employment refuse to offer jobs, and in many cases, those released from prison end up right back in prison due to lack of opportunity for putting themselves on the right path. I commend these companies and businesses for taking chances and giving hope to people that may have been running low on any kind of hope. I've been encouraged by Roman 15:13 when hoping and praying for Max to be born which says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may abound in hope."

Connect Update

Learning about John 3:17, Christ came to save, not condemn

The new year has brought a little bit of change to our Connect Middle School Program. Firstly, I'm currently its director. Secondly, we'll be meeting every Monday and Thursday. More hours equals, hopefully, more time to help with school work and greater relationships among volunteers, students, and each other. I'm hoping to include leadership training from learning how to set up a projector to learning how to impact an entire community. Becoming servant leaders means having the right attitude, the right heart, and a right understanding of God. I hope to gain a better understanding directly from the students as to what topics they want to learn about, what questions they have about God, and how these things impact their lives outside of 2nd Mile. Thank you for those who donated Teen Study Bibles. The kids were grateful to have one to take home with them. I'm hoping this will lead to being able to do some program work outside of the program, getting them to read the word in their homes on their own.

Staff Retreat
At our annual staff retreat, we celebrated what God did in 2018 in Brentwood, as well as dreaming about the future of the ministry. With a vacancy at the permanent executive director position, we discussed what type of leader we would need to help reach our dreams of the future. Please pray as 2nd Mile navigates building a profile for the future Executive Director, searching for possible candidates, and filling the position.

Marshaun (4th grader) who attends two:fiftytwo, shooting a free throw. Check out that form!