First off, I have 2 trades I haven't done posts for, and I apologize for letting them get pushed back so far.
I really hope this post doesn't get to political and doesn't get to preachy, and I apologize if it does.
I guess I have to start it off from the very early part of my life. I come from a family of 6. I have 3 younger sisters who are now 35, and 33 (twins), while I just turned 37 a few days ago. We all grew up pretty sheltered and kind of raised in church, which there is nothing wrong with, I think it just kind of hid me from a lot of stuff going on in the world. I was home-schooled by my mom from kindergarden to 2nd grade, was in a pretty strict private school from 3rd through 5th, home-schooled again from 6th through 10th, and put in public school in 11th and 12. My mom tried, but with 4 of us to teach, much of the schooling was either put on us to keep up with the reading or worksheets (which we did 75% of the time), and some of the subjects got pushed to the back burner. She listened to Rush Limbaugh every afternoon, which I don't think is wrong, but perhaps it just gave us only one side of the equation much of the time.
I got pretty involved in youth group during middle school. There was a girl in the group who seemed different than the rest. She read her Bible consistantly, and had been on a few mission trips, and just seemed like she had something that me and many kids in the group wanted. I decided to start reading my Bible, and over the next few years, I came to realize that God loved me enough to send His Son down to earth to live a life without sinning and falling short of the mark, and pay the penalty for all of the wrong things I had ever done, and offer me the gift of eternal life. You may or may not believe in any of this or may not care, and that's ok. It's just part of my story. I accepted God's gift, and continued to get in the Bible and do what I thought was right. This is kind of where everything gets confusing. Growing up in the southern baptist church I was in, I think many of the things they taught seemed right in themselves, but when you actually get down to it, they didn't actually line up with what the Bible taught. Many people in the church were judgemental of many different groups of people. We were kind of taught that us people in the church were in the right and everyone else was wrong and needed to be shown that.
I went to college a few years later, and I just kept acting the way the church taught me to, and probably alienating a bunch of people. One of our suitemates was a little strange, and rumor had it he was a satanist. Instead of trying to make him feel welcome, I just judged him and didn't try to accept him. One day he was talking about an Andy Warhol painting, and I just lit into him, telling him how stupid Andy was and how lame his painting was. When I walked back to my room, my roommate JD just commented 'You'll never reach him that way'. It kind of hit me that I lost my perspective of what was right.
I hate to admit it, but in spite of what I claimed I believed, I have been racist to many different groups. I just never took the time to give other people a chance and try to relate to them and give them a chance or get to know their story of why they are like they are. While my upbringing and the church I went to kind of molded me, I was ultimately the person responsible for the choices I made.
Over the years, a few things have made me see that I was wrong for how I acted. I have always opposed illegal immigrants coming to the US. I reasoned that all they do is steal money and resources from people who are born here and work for a living. While some do, not all people do, and they shouldn't be judged for the actions of a small group.
My wife Karen is the most loving and accepting person I know. She accepted and loved me for crying out loud. She has been on me for the way I have acted, but has always been loving about it, and has made me question why I believe what I do. In the process of dating her, she was living in the house of a family, the Hoffmans. Fred & Mary Hoffman had 5 or 6 rooms in their house, and alwasy rented them out to young people at their church. They have been on many mission trips to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua. While on one of the trips, they met a fellow named Rodolfo. Where Rodolfo is from, the political tensions are very high, and the lines are pretty set. Rodolfo is a doctor, and while offering medical help to a member of a different party that his family was affiliated with, he got in trouble with the political officials, and his life became in danger. He fled to the US, and Fred & Mary helped him out, trying to get himi political assylum, paying for his legal fees, and lettting him live with them. I feel sorry for Rodolfo. He is one of the good people who can't come to the US legally because the country he is fleeing won't let him. If he comes illegally, the establishment in the US will ship him back. Kind of a catch 22 that makes me think that maybe its the system that needs to be changed and it's ok if people try to come to the US if where they live now aren't safe.
I am ashamed to admit, but I have been racist in the past. I just haven't given African American people the benefit of the doubt, whether it be a story about a person getting arrested, or shot by the police, or killed. That was wrong. Why shouldn't I give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Many of these stories that have came out about African Americans being harassed by the police are unthinkable. The fact that parents have to give their children 'the talk' about how police are going to pull them over for no reason at all and that there isn't much that they can do about it is just alarming and sad. What can I do to change things? Do I try to talk to my African American co-workers and friends and ask them for advice? Do I post things online? Do I just try to be more accepting and teach my child that as well? I wish I knew the answer.
While trying to be a good 'Christian' in college, I wrote a original song with my brother-in-law that I called 'Plan B'. The song basically questioned why people came to church and left unchanged. I was judging other people in that song, as well as others that I've written, and the more I grow older, the more I find that I'm just writing the songs about myself.
I think the basic idea of the song has merit, and I've changed a number of the lyrics recently in order to kind of reflect what is going on in the world now. Here is where I'm going to try to post a video of me performing it, and below it will be the lyrics and hopefully a chord sheet. I have no idea of how the quality of this video will be, I took it with my phone and uploaded it to blogger from my phone, and it's just my tired voice and piano with no click track or anything.
PLAN B
Words by: Jeremy DeJong & JT Bush
Music by: Jeremy DeJong
VERSE 1
He goes there every Sunday as if to make an appearance.
He listend to the message, but rarely does he hear it.
He leaves the church as if his obligation is done.
Now it's back to whatever, whatever he calls 'fun'.
VERSE 2
We say we are different, but we lock our minds in a jar.
Instead of reaching out to the world, we stay right where we are.
We judge too many people, instead of looking at ourselves.
We scare away the broken, and don't care if they ever get well.
PRE-CHORUS
The truth is preached, but seldom does it get through
and all of the Christians wonder what to do.
CHORUS
It's about time to put our words into action and show love instead of hate.
It will change their reaction if we could only relate.
Talk is cheap, let's back it up. There's a world that needs some love (2X)
VERSE 3
Today nobody is equal. Cheap talk won't be enough.
Forget about appearance, and start showing everyone love.
PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS
SOLO
PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS
Here is the chord sheet. I hope you can read it. Basically B minor, A, G 3 times, then a D and A for the verses, Bm, G, D, A for the pre-chorus, chorus, and intro/outro with an F# thrown in the solo part.
I hope that this song can be one that you relate to, whether from being tired of being a Christian that isn't loving everyone, or whether you don't even believe in anything but still hope for a world where everyone is loved and accepted. Please let me know if the song affected you in any positive way.
I truly hope that the relationship with all types of people can improve in the future, and I hope to be part of that change and that I can start showing more love to people. Thanks for putting up with my singing and playing. I play alot better when I am not singing, and when I'm in a band setting. Maybe I'll get a recording of that up sometime.
In my next post, I hope to highlight one of the trades I have yet to post, and I also might put a video of another orignial song, one of my oldest and probably one of my best ones, one which I have performed about a dozen times over the years.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
I really hope this post doesn't get to political and doesn't get to preachy, and I apologize if it does.
I guess I have to start it off from the very early part of my life. I come from a family of 6. I have 3 younger sisters who are now 35, and 33 (twins), while I just turned 37 a few days ago. We all grew up pretty sheltered and kind of raised in church, which there is nothing wrong with, I think it just kind of hid me from a lot of stuff going on in the world. I was home-schooled by my mom from kindergarden to 2nd grade, was in a pretty strict private school from 3rd through 5th, home-schooled again from 6th through 10th, and put in public school in 11th and 12. My mom tried, but with 4 of us to teach, much of the schooling was either put on us to keep up with the reading or worksheets (which we did 75% of the time), and some of the subjects got pushed to the back burner. She listened to Rush Limbaugh every afternoon, which I don't think is wrong, but perhaps it just gave us only one side of the equation much of the time.
I got pretty involved in youth group during middle school. There was a girl in the group who seemed different than the rest. She read her Bible consistantly, and had been on a few mission trips, and just seemed like she had something that me and many kids in the group wanted. I decided to start reading my Bible, and over the next few years, I came to realize that God loved me enough to send His Son down to earth to live a life without sinning and falling short of the mark, and pay the penalty for all of the wrong things I had ever done, and offer me the gift of eternal life. You may or may not believe in any of this or may not care, and that's ok. It's just part of my story. I accepted God's gift, and continued to get in the Bible and do what I thought was right. This is kind of where everything gets confusing. Growing up in the southern baptist church I was in, I think many of the things they taught seemed right in themselves, but when you actually get down to it, they didn't actually line up with what the Bible taught. Many people in the church were judgemental of many different groups of people. We were kind of taught that us people in the church were in the right and everyone else was wrong and needed to be shown that.
I went to college a few years later, and I just kept acting the way the church taught me to, and probably alienating a bunch of people. One of our suitemates was a little strange, and rumor had it he was a satanist. Instead of trying to make him feel welcome, I just judged him and didn't try to accept him. One day he was talking about an Andy Warhol painting, and I just lit into him, telling him how stupid Andy was and how lame his painting was. When I walked back to my room, my roommate JD just commented 'You'll never reach him that way'. It kind of hit me that I lost my perspective of what was right.
I hate to admit it, but in spite of what I claimed I believed, I have been racist to many different groups. I just never took the time to give other people a chance and try to relate to them and give them a chance or get to know their story of why they are like they are. While my upbringing and the church I went to kind of molded me, I was ultimately the person responsible for the choices I made.
Over the years, a few things have made me see that I was wrong for how I acted. I have always opposed illegal immigrants coming to the US. I reasoned that all they do is steal money and resources from people who are born here and work for a living. While some do, not all people do, and they shouldn't be judged for the actions of a small group.
My wife Karen is the most loving and accepting person I know. She accepted and loved me for crying out loud. She has been on me for the way I have acted, but has always been loving about it, and has made me question why I believe what I do. In the process of dating her, she was living in the house of a family, the Hoffmans. Fred & Mary Hoffman had 5 or 6 rooms in their house, and alwasy rented them out to young people at their church. They have been on many mission trips to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua. While on one of the trips, they met a fellow named Rodolfo. Where Rodolfo is from, the political tensions are very high, and the lines are pretty set. Rodolfo is a doctor, and while offering medical help to a member of a different party that his family was affiliated with, he got in trouble with the political officials, and his life became in danger. He fled to the US, and Fred & Mary helped him out, trying to get himi political assylum, paying for his legal fees, and lettting him live with them. I feel sorry for Rodolfo. He is one of the good people who can't come to the US legally because the country he is fleeing won't let him. If he comes illegally, the establishment in the US will ship him back. Kind of a catch 22 that makes me think that maybe its the system that needs to be changed and it's ok if people try to come to the US if where they live now aren't safe.
I am ashamed to admit, but I have been racist in the past. I just haven't given African American people the benefit of the doubt, whether it be a story about a person getting arrested, or shot by the police, or killed. That was wrong. Why shouldn't I give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Many of these stories that have came out about African Americans being harassed by the police are unthinkable. The fact that parents have to give their children 'the talk' about how police are going to pull them over for no reason at all and that there isn't much that they can do about it is just alarming and sad. What can I do to change things? Do I try to talk to my African American co-workers and friends and ask them for advice? Do I post things online? Do I just try to be more accepting and teach my child that as well? I wish I knew the answer.
While trying to be a good 'Christian' in college, I wrote a original song with my brother-in-law that I called 'Plan B'. The song basically questioned why people came to church and left unchanged. I was judging other people in that song, as well as others that I've written, and the more I grow older, the more I find that I'm just writing the songs about myself.
I think the basic idea of the song has merit, and I've changed a number of the lyrics recently in order to kind of reflect what is going on in the world now. Here is where I'm going to try to post a video of me performing it, and below it will be the lyrics and hopefully a chord sheet. I have no idea of how the quality of this video will be, I took it with my phone and uploaded it to blogger from my phone, and it's just my tired voice and piano with no click track or anything.
PLAN B
Words by: Jeremy DeJong & JT Bush
Music by: Jeremy DeJong
VERSE 1
He goes there every Sunday as if to make an appearance.
He listend to the message, but rarely does he hear it.
He leaves the church as if his obligation is done.
Now it's back to whatever, whatever he calls 'fun'.
VERSE 2
We say we are different, but we lock our minds in a jar.
Instead of reaching out to the world, we stay right where we are.
We judge too many people, instead of looking at ourselves.
We scare away the broken, and don't care if they ever get well.
PRE-CHORUS
The truth is preached, but seldom does it get through
and all of the Christians wonder what to do.
CHORUS
It's about time to put our words into action and show love instead of hate.
It will change their reaction if we could only relate.
Talk is cheap, let's back it up. There's a world that needs some love (2X)
VERSE 3
Today nobody is equal. Cheap talk won't be enough.
Forget about appearance, and start showing everyone love.
PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS
SOLO
PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS
Here is the chord sheet. I hope you can read it. Basically B minor, A, G 3 times, then a D and A for the verses, Bm, G, D, A for the pre-chorus, chorus, and intro/outro with an F# thrown in the solo part.
I hope that this song can be one that you relate to, whether from being tired of being a Christian that isn't loving everyone, or whether you don't even believe in anything but still hope for a world where everyone is loved and accepted. Please let me know if the song affected you in any positive way.
I truly hope that the relationship with all types of people can improve in the future, and I hope to be part of that change and that I can start showing more love to people. Thanks for putting up with my singing and playing. I play alot better when I am not singing, and when I'm in a band setting. Maybe I'll get a recording of that up sometime.
In my next post, I hope to highlight one of the trades I have yet to post, and I also might put a video of another orignial song, one of my oldest and probably one of my best ones, one which I have performed about a dozen times over the years.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
The video didn't work for me, but wanted to say I appreciate your insights.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your inisghts. I too was brought up in a Baptist church and I also believe that a lot I was taught does not line up with what the Bible says.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed the message... especially... "Forget about appearance, and start showing everyone love."
ReplyDeleteJeremy, thanks for your honesty. The world is much bigger than our beliefs. I went to a conservative bible college; learned "apologetics" and studied other belief systems. This experience lead me to comparative religion which opened my eyes and mind. I don't know that there is a right or wrong answer. I have a black friend my age who I can speak freely with which is helpful to me. Fears can be passed through our generations, hatred is learned. I believe this is where change begins. What are we teaching children and younger people with our off-hand remarks? Be it a joke about a "Chinese" virus, skin color, religion (Muslims/Islam), sexuality etc., humor often veils a belief. I'm battling this in an office of four. My boss thinks the virus is a hoax and BLM is a cover for theft and looting. "They" are in on it together." That comment alone is filled with racism. This pushed me to write a small blurb at the end of my last post which frankly, has been my most unpopular post to date. Most of us come here for fun, to get away from "reality." But this is also a forum/opportunity to use your voice for positive change. Thank you again, for your story.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your openness and honesty. We all need to be able to look at ourselves from the outside and get a different perspective from time to time.
ReplyDelete