To listen to the radio version, click here.
To search archives, click here.
Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 19, 2009
“I Was Raised in Whitesville”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
I fell down in church yesterday.
You should have seen it. It was spectacular.
The church has a TV show, and I am a camera man.
Sunday I ran a handheld camera on stage, and it happened just as I turned to step off one of the risers.
Now keep in mind, it’s not just some guy with a camcorder. You have the TV camera, plus a headset with a microphone, a communications device on your belt, a metal clip hanging from your pants and a bunch of wires running from you to who-knows-where. And the camera is strapped to your hand, which is a good thing when you plan to take a flying leap.
So right in the middle of the music, I turned to step off the riser onto a little step, and wouldn’t you know it, the little step tipped over. I didn’t even know what hit me.
Bam! I was instantly flat on my back, thankfully behind the riser where only a few people onstage could see me. But I went down hard with the little step underneath me.
The next thing I knew two people were helping me up. Two people not of my race, which is no surprise since over half the people on the stage were not of my race. Of course that had nothing to do with it. It had nothing to do with anything.
And that’s the wonderful part of the story, besides the fact that I didn’t break my neck and die.
Our church is a beautiful blend of race. If Dr. King had a dream about a church where no one was judged by their color, I think our church would be mighty close to that dream.
Now I was never a racist, but let me start with this.
I was raised in Whitesville.
I wasn’t racist because there was no one to be racist against.
As a boy my main exposure to black people was when we went to Cardinal baseball games in St. Louis. Some of them were scary, like the ones lurking out on the streets. Some of them were helpful, like the ones selling souvenirs. And mostly they were my heroes on the field, men like Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. I had their posters on my bedroom wall.
Now I’ll bet there were some homes where that was not allowed, but not my home. As far as I can remember our home was truly colorblind. A person’s color had nothing to do with anything.
But like I said, it was Whitesville.
I went away to college, but it was mostly white, the college and the town. I was friendly with a few African Americans, but we spent no real time together.
Then as an adult I spent many years at a church in Illinois where the pastor had a real heart for integration. He worked hard to bring the races together and had some success. But try as he might, Sunday morning remained, for the most part, segregated.
So for most of my life I had very limited exposure to African Americans.
Then I moved to Tallahassee.
The city of Tallahassee is only 60% white, which means you would have to actually work at it to stay segregated.
Then we chose a church that is only half white, if that.
And let me tell you what this has done for me. For the first time in my life, it has put me in a situation of true integration. Sometimes I look around and I’m the only white face in the room. And it doesn’t matter.
I was never racist, but I noticed. Now for the first time in my life I walk in a room and it doesn’t even cross my mind.
And what made the difference was simply time together with many individuals of a different race. Getting to know them as individuals. Working with them as individuals.
Notice I’m stressing the word “individuals.”
Racism means lumping people together, as if “they” are all the same.
Of course, that’s ridiculous. I sure don’t want to be lumped in with so many nutcase white people. And I shouldn’t lump other people together.
Each person should be looked at as an individual. The color of their skin has nothing to do with it.
I love being part of such a racially mixed church. It has changed my life. I didn’t even know it needed to be changed, but it has.
Second Thessalonians 1:3 talks about our love for each other increasing. In the church, as the body of Christ, our love for one another should just grow and grow and grow.
And that includes an ever-growing love for our brothers and sisters of other races.
The kind of love I felt just yesterday, when my brother and sister rushed over to help me – the poor guy flat on his back, this middle-aged man from Whitesville.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here: http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one: douglas_apple@msn.com
(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-
No comments:
Post a Comment