Dr. Charles W. Ferguson

I am convinced that many people are living in a bubble that feeds the idea that the United States is a “free nation”. Our national infrastructure suggests to many that we have the right to certain rights as a people–life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For many of my impressionable years, I was told that I could be anything I desired. I was gifted, talented, and skilled enough to pursue any position, goal, or objective. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that the premise had validity, but the execution possessed many caveats. 

I remember going to Liberty Christian Academy in Columbus, OH. I was very capable in the classroom. My grades were always on par with my counterparts. Many of us with melaninized hue were the cream of the crop academically. One year, I watched as one of my friends, Siobhan, was preparing to graduate. It was universally accepted and known that Siobhan was the smartest and most involved student at Liberty. Her GPA was out of this world. Nobody…….and I mean….NOBODY,  expected her to be in the role of sharing Valedictorian with anybody. Suddenly, I witnessed my first extreme level of injustice. She shared the honor with another student. We all knew that it was not right, but we never spoke up publically. Why? Inheriently, we knew the cost would be too much. 

Colin Kaepernick has become the face of penalty for using free speech. Sports writers, radio hosts, and others have debated the validity of this gentleman not having a role on one of the 32 NFL teams. Despite having stats that would at minimum would allow for him to be a second string quarterback, Kaepernick is without an offer. So what did he do that was so wrong? He had an opinion. He decided to use his platform to express his opinion. Now, he is like many people in our society–unemployed. 

Now in most situations, it might be difficult to have empathy for a man who has made millions of dollars. Most people will never see that much money in their lifetime. Yet, the principle of what has taken place is what has ripped the scab of a never healing wound in this country. I speak to my well meaning, self-proclaimed progressive thinking people. Before you begin to attempt to separate football/sport from activism, allow me to remind you of this perspective. 

Muhammad Ali is known as one of the greatest figures of our time. He passed away and people began praising his life. Interesting. Ali was vilified for taking a stand on religious grounds against the Vietnam War. Many African American athletes during the Civil Rights era aligned themselves with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They mobilized in order to push change in a society that wanted continuous oppression. They were celebrated for what they could do on the field of play. Yet, they were not embraced for their “free thinking” or ideas. 

For every person that has been an activist in some form, a price was associated with fighting the good fight. Nothing has changed. Colin is paying a price. People are picking apart his existence in order to negate his existence. People are picking through his ideas so that he will become a greater villain than murders, felons, and domestic abusers. The more I hear of the rationale of owners, fans, and others, the more I am reminded that it costs to be real honest. It costs when people are unwilling to examine the whole picture and say “maybe there is something more”. 

I implore every reader to take a few moments to consider that you must recognize the various factors that are at work in this instance and beyond. Accepting everything at face value is the dismissal of various factors and perspectives. I do understand that the NFL is about making money. I recognize that owners are worried about the bottom line. I also concede that the code of a private organization dictate the manner that those who are fortunate to take part are handcuffed in how much they will express. Yet, I believe in the overarching need for people to live prophetic lives that speak truth to power and categorically denounce injustice in any form. I am a believer in the nature of “tossing the money changing tables” for the benefit of those who are pushed away from life changing moments. 

Today, we are called to count the cost. Are we as radical as we claim? Are we people who can speak clearly about the inequality and lack of equity in our society? Is being honest, truthful, and transformative more important than selling out for the status quo? Do not become desensitize in this season of life. Do not dismiss real issues as nothing more than a moment or isolated occurrence. My speech is costly. I might as well make it count…..

These are the personal thoughts that filtered through my personal time of meditation this morning. If you have ever felt or still feel like this, I pray that this will be a blessing to you.

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I cannot begin to express how difficult life is been over the last year. I have attempted to make sense of all that I’ve had to do. I have tried with my whole heart to figure out why my heart, my mind, and my soul have been grieved. Now I get it. The challenge is been to become the man that I was meant to be, not the man that everybody wanted me to be.

When I began reading scripture this morning, I began to realize that everything that I’ve been through for the last year was nothing more than a seed. Seeds do not live in order to live again, but seeds live in a state of constant death in order to live.

What do I mean by that? I mean a seed has no capability unless it it enters into the ground, is watered, and stays under ground until something breaks forth from its shell. It’s in a constant state of pressure with the hope that it will produce what it is intended to produce.

The last 35 years of my life have been nothing more than a bag of seed. I’ve been sowing my heart, my mind, my spirit, and my energy into people, institutions, jobs, and other elements of life. The season has come for fruit to come forth.

I said to some people, via social media, that my season is now to assess all my relationships, my production, and my partnerships. I’ve come to the place where I want to be productive and prosperous not just tangibly but spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

I no longer want to be seen as the young man that is grown up in a neighborhood. I want to be seen as the man that God gave not only gifts but sensibilities in order to enhance his community. Today I declare that my life and my everything will finally be resurrected into a new life. My existence will no longer be defined by what others have said by how devalued my life is been in the eyes of others. My life will finally begin for the very first time. It’s Resurrection time!

I have been away for several months. Some of the time away from the blog was due to normal life. Working, marriage, and fatherhood is enough to keep any man busy. However, I have been reflecting on the world around me. Just because on does not write or creatively express as often does not suggest that observation ceases. During the observation, one conclusion has rested in my spirit. We have given the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue too much credit. Allow me to elaborate. 

Through social media, print, television, and random conversations, people have expressed their disdain for our current president. I am definitely not going to write as if my displeasure does not line up with the masses about constant incompetence, lack of leadership, and emptiness of decency. Nevertheless, people have to stop feeding into the idea that one man is the sole reason for the condition of our nation. 

Now, Donald J. Trump is the embodiment of our nation’s deepest seeded character and personality flaws. He does represent individuals who would desire that privilege would outweigh doing the right thing for all people. His presence proves once again our ineptitude to recognize that we must address the sick and twisted mentality that permeates the fabric of the United States. But ladies and gentlemen, this image and representation is not new. 

Look at any organization that has a warped corporate culture. The organization places a charismatic individual at the top of the ladder. The intention is to make certain that the organization will grow, prosper, and gain relevance in the eyes of the greater corporate community. That leader is given everything possible to feed the ego, cover faults, and tolerance indecency across the board. Ultimately, that culture becomes subject to that leader because the lose control of what the organization is supposed to represent. The organization now embodies the personality/monster they created in their chosen leader. Wrong is now right. Right is subject to feelings or tweets. 

May I offer a few things so I can overcome my personal weariness and aid others in not engaging in the worrisome, tiresome antics of this mentality? 

1. Do not express any displeasure about the nonsense you see without acknowledging any possible hypocrisy you may exhibit.  That means you must be careful about possessing Trump criticism without sweeping to see if you possess the same detrimental tendencies for your environment. 
2. The best way to address the issues is to develop strategies using your skill set to face them head on. Do not be critical of the protester when you are unwilling to educate yourself of the problems around you. Do not pronounce the ignorance of others when you lack desire to educate those who need it. Do not engage trolls when it wastes your energy to be productive toward a solution. 
3. If your environment has not been improved by your presence, you are in no moral position to speak against anyone pursuing the greater good. That means, you do not get the right to group people into your negative experience projection of any culture, institution, etc. (All communities, organizations, and faith fellowships that are generally for the greater good of humanity must undergo continuous internal examination. That idea is the standard. That concept is the ethical and moral burden that must always carry.)

Grow weary of the foolishness. Become active in shifting the culture. Provide the antidote to heal the community. Be the change.