A Firestarter In My Life

When I was in college, I was a fresh faced young pup from a little spot on a southeastern Oklahoma road. Then I met the man in this picture. He ignited something within me. Davis Joyce was my

(FAVORITE) professor of history subjects. He advised me every semester on my journey through undergraduate studies (and was quite happy when that journey led me into the history department for my major). He taught me to DO history right; to respect ALL points of view; and to write.

Today, I wanted to dedicate a little bit of time to him. See, he didn't just fade into my educational history (so to speak). We reconnected later. He is now one of my dearest friends and ardent supporters in my journey of authentic self-discovery. I don't get to see him as often. We talk by email and phone. He still teaches me every time we talk.

The thing that he ignited within me, though, was a fire for something that I allowed others to force me to hide under a bushel basket. Davis was a justice warrior and still holds the banner of fighting for the equal rights of all persons. Skin color matters to him if only to emphasize that we are all deserving of equal respect and treatment. Sexuality and gender matter to him if only to emphasize how important it is to be able to love who you love.

In college, I found a heart for social justice, seeing the wronged, the last, the least, the forgotten, the ignored, and the wounded. I carried that firey heart into learning about John Wesley and the Methodists. Wesley changed the world in small but significant ways. He taught uneducated children and fought to get them out of the mines. He raised money for widows and built a place for them to belong and not forgotten. He took necessities into prisons for those jailed under a ludicrously unjust system of law. Small business loans were available to get businesses started. He fought for the freedom of slaves in England and was part of the energy of the movement to abolish the slave trade. He denounced luxuries that wasted valuable life resources. The fire burned bright.

And then I started working in churches.

The fire, burning brightly at first, had to be hidden away due to "liberal" ideas. The fire had to be suppressed to meet the fickle entertainment spirituality mentality. "Keep us feeling good, don't talk so much about what is bad and wrong." And I gave in. I allowed the fire the was kindled by my mentor and friend to be shamed into an ember. But the ember never went cold.

Now, I have no more basket to carry. Churches who were more concerned about feeling good about themselves are in the past. My life, my passions, have been freed from the bondage of a system the insisted on keeping the checkbooks happy and content enough to show up. I have the room to fan an ember into something more. I now have the room to speak about those whom Davis made me aware of, whom John Wesley did something about.

I would warn people who follow me that there is a passion again for social justice. And in our world right now, social justice is inextricably tied to politics. If you don't like "political" posts, then you may want to avoid what I write. If you feel that being an advocate for the wronged, the last, least, forgotten, ignored, and wounded is being a liberal, then so be it. I follow in a line of amazing examples of that.

But I want to say a huge "THANK YOU" to Davis, my dear friend, my mentor, my example, and my supporter. You are and always be part of my heart fire.