Author Speaking Event — Jackson College
Author Speaking Event — Jackson College
I had the opportunity to speak to some kids at Jackson College and to offer them some encouragement and here’s a clip from that — enjoy and don’t forget to leave your comments below and click the like button on YouTube!
When I was in school I knew I wasn’t good at English class because I had such a fear of reading out loud. I stuttered and fumbled my words, so I spent most of my time in school avoiding that.
So, when it came to reading, I wasn’t interested in doing something that brought me so much discomfort.
It took until I was about 25 to get over it. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, but that I had a complex about reading out loud. Then when I started doing a Bible study with a friend, she didn’t laugh and that helped me come out of my shell. That was one of the biggest things that helped me to overcome that.
Writing wasn’t something that I set out to do, but when the idea came to me it was so strong, I knew I had to get it out there. I believe that we all have content that we have to provide and if you keep it in there, it’s not going to help who it’s meant to help.
No matter what type of content you want to do, whether it’s writing or videos, you have to get it out there.
So, now I have this idea and what am I going to do with it? I thought of my sister who loves to write, she went to school for it and it’s right in her field. I went to my sister and I said “I want you to write this, it has to be done.” And she said okay, so we brainstormed and we came up with some things. But, next thing I knew it wasn’t getting done.
It kept coming at me and I believe that it was something that was put in me from God. I heard that it was something that I was supposed to do. So, I started doing it. The next challenge was, “you don’t know anything about writing.” These were the things that continued to try and hold me back and stop me from doing it.
One thing I’ve learned from past business ventures is that whatever it is that you want to do, you need to be working on it on a daily basis. You need to research it and try to interview other people who did it. So, I started to reach out to other people and started learning.
The main thing I learned with writing was to “show and not tell” which means that you’re supposed to show more in your writing than you do your telling. For most people, we try to tell the story and you have to put it into action form instead.
This started to become more exciting for me and not only did I write Bright and the Bully, but I wrote another book, and then another. Now I have about six pieces of work and I’m wondering, “where is all this coming from?” with this person who is not a writer, because I’m not a writer in a traditional sense. I didn’t set out to be a writer or to win any kind of award.
But, all of this content is inside me, each and every one of you have a story. If you just go back over your life and think about the things you’ve experienced, you could write tons of books, and those books can help somebody.
I looked at different things, like traditional publishing and the pros and cons versus self-publishing. I learned that self-publishing was a great way to go in today’s climate because of what Amazon has done in the publishing field.
In the next step, I looked at it like a business, that’s one of the things that brings me a lot of pleasure, more than writing. So I started my own publishing company called 215 Publishing. With doing this I had to research even more and then it was all set up and ready to go.
We’re talking about writing, but I think that in anything that you have that you want to do, anything that you have in your heart that God put there, whatever has been put in you, is meant to get out of you.
The first thing you have to say is “I’m willing to do it,” and you have to be willing to take that step.
I had to start taking these steps, and then I turned around two years later and I had this finished product called Bright and the Bully. Also, I had a publishing company, I had different social media outlets, and a huge buzz from people all across the world who wanted to buy my book and wanting me to speak at different places.
That’s my story and what I feel as far as encouragement, because you’re all at an age where you’re thinking about the future and what you want to do. It doesn’t have to be writing, but whatever it is, you have to do it with the same tenacity and the same kind of mindset of working right away.
As for the art for the books, it was a challenge. I know a lot of people who can draw really well, and one friend, I said, “Ok, I want you to do this book for me,” and I paid him and he started working on it. But, what happened was that he was a great artist, but he wasn’t capturing the illustration process in the way that I wanted it to be. I didn’t want my book to be a “fly-by” book, I wanted to put a lot into it.
So I searched all over the internet through Facebook groups and YouTube, because anything you want – you can find through Google. Through searching all over I ran into a guy from Singapore and he does really good work. I told him that if he could draw me out a storyboard that I would hire him. He did and we developed a good relationship, as a matter of fact, I just watched his wedding a couple weeks ago via live-stream. So, it’s given me another connection from somewhere else.
That’s one of the most important parts when you’re dealing with a kid’s book is to make sure the illustrator is up to par because in children’s books the pictures are what really tells the story. My sister for example, her kids that are over five, they can read it great, but the little one who is three doesn’t read on the same level, but she can understand everything just by seeing the pictures.
That was one of the things that was challenging in the beginning, especially when you’re looking at illustrators and they cost from a couple thousand to ten thousand, or twenty thousand, depending on who you get to do it. The more well known the illustrator is, the more it’ll cost.
I enjoyed speaking to the kids at Jackson College and I hope that they’ve learned some things about the writing and illustrating process that helps them to do the things they want to do in life.
Thanks and Be Bright!
T.W. Bright
T.W. Bright — Author Interview — Faith Talk With Tamara
Listen to Faith Talk With Tamara and T.W. Bright
Bullying in the Christian Community
How would God want us to deal with bullying?
First, I want to thank Tamara for combating this prevalent issue among both children and adults.
We discussed the book Bright and the Bully, which gives children five simple steps they can take to fight against bullying, in a Christian manner, and without violence.
Tamara: With all the books out there, what inspired you to write this book?
T.W. Bright: When I was a kid, I was not a good reader and not very good in school when it came to reading. I was able to read, but reading out loud was something that was very embarrassing for me. I didn’t even want to pick up a book because it represented something that brought me the most shame.
When I was in my twenties and became a Christian I finally got over it through the help of a dear friend who I did Bible study with. Through the encouragement and building up, I was able to overcome my difficulties with reading and was able to come out of my shell.
One of the difficulties with children, it’s also the looks that parents give their kids, or the complaints that the parent makes about the child not doing what they should. These things are just as much a part of bullying as their child getting picked on in school.
Not to sound cliche, but I really do feel that writing is something that God wanted me to do. I first thought of doing a children’s book based on a Bible verse. I was always interested in superheroes, so I looked up children’s books that were biblically based, and I didn’t see anything that had any action.
After trying to get my sisters to write it for me, I found out I had to do it myself even though I really didn’t feel that I could ever be a writer. It turned out that God wanted me to step out of my comfort zone, so it was something that was just simply there, unfolding, rather than being planned.
One of the major things that makes this book different from other bullying books is that it focuses mainly on the bystanders are the biggest influence on bullying.
Tamara: I love how you incorporated God and this superhero kind of character. And it’s funny, growing up, I was bullied. My grandmother and my sister would always say, even though we were Christian, it was “if they hit you, you hit them back, do you want me to come to school and fight for you?”
And when my son started to get bullied, I came with a different approach, I used your book. We went over the book and we read it. I showed him — this is what Bright did, and instead of coming back and retaliating, we come back and we pray for him and we pray for his heart. Because the reason why he’s bullying is because he needs healed from something. You helped give me a different perspective on how to address my son who’s also growing up in a household of faith.
As Christians, do you think we talk enough about these issues?
T.W. Bright: It’s kind of funny, you said you were taught, “when someone hits you, you better hit them back” and that was the very phrase that stuck in my head when I was writing this book. I was a firm believer of that. I was never bullied because I was the kid that bullied the bullies. When my sister got bullied because she had bifocal glasses, I was the one that came behind and bullied the one that was bullying her.
I was taught that, and every other African-American that I knew was taught that same thing. It’s not that you don’t defend yourself, if you look at the steps in the book, it tells you to stand up for other people also. The big thing with Bright, is to not act selfishly.
I wanted to do something different than what I was taught.
There are other options. I only knew one option, and that was to fight. I don’t want kids to only have that one option.
To answer your question, I would say the answer is a yes and a no. As believers, I feel that we do need to talk more about real-life situations, and bullying is a real-life situation. If you can’t talk about real life with other believers — where else can you talk about it?
I talk about this a lot when I’m teaching, too many of us are church-minded, organizational-minded. In this, our identity is wrapped up in church or a congregation, or even a political party.
We’re so wrapped up in this identity, that we don’t have the identity of Christ.
So, yes, on one end, I believe we need to talk about this more. But, then when we talk about being believers, I think we talk too much. In writing, you’re suppose to show more and tell less, that’s the fundamental key of writing. I believe it’s the same thing when it comes to us as believers, show more and tell less — in your actions, because too many of us can talk the talk, but we can’t walk the walk. The answer is both yes and no, it really depends on the angle you’re coming from.
I definitely think that this is something that needs talked about in the church. I do what we call “real time” – I incorporate what happened throughout the week into the scriptures. When you get people out and interacting and you have a dialogue, it opens up so many different doors.
Tamara: Yes, people can learn to experience true healing.
T.W. Bright: Exactly, it’s different than just sitting and listening all the time. Instead you can take things and learn to apply them in your everyday life.
Tamara: As we were speaking about this I realized, your book is actually a starting point for conversations. I can see this as something for small group discussion. “Let’s talk about Bright and the Bully and how to respond. Have you ever been bullied? How have you responded to these things?”
I even see this for small groups in different churches, and different types of settings for talking about these types of issues. I definitely commend you for writing this book. I see this going in a bigger new avenue of opening up and being able to talk about bullying for what it really is.
Our kids are killing themselves because they’re being bullied. They don’t want to go to school because they’re bullied.
You don’t realize it, but you just tapped into something on a real large scale, something that we need to talk about.
Thank you for getting over the fear.
T.W. Bright: I didn’t realize it at first. I just realized that I’m not a typical author. I didn’t set out to get an award. I didn’t set out for accolades.
I just wanted to teach kids to be the light of the world.
And, not only kids, I wanted to teach people that. That’s what my life is about and I try to do those things by modeling those behaviors and principles that we find in the Bible. I don’t have to tell people that I’m a minister when I go places.
Bright and the Bully is already starting to open those doors, I’m already having those conversations. A lady at my church gave me something called a “Bully Ball” which has a lot of different questions about bullying. You toss the ball and the kid that gets the ball, whatever it lands on is a question. It opens up another dialogue.
I’ve been asked to come into some schools and what I’m going to do is bring the Bully Ball with me. So, yes, this is not just a book, this is a starting point. Yes, I’m an author now, but this is more of a ministry, something that I know that the Lord is going to work through in a deeper way than just reading a book.
Tamara: Definitely! I see this book as being for many different ages. What specific age group did you have in mind when you wrote this book?
T.W. Bright: I’m not a very traditional author, I didn’t really plan around an age. I just simply wrote what was in my heart. The way that I gauge the age is by my nephew, who the character Bright, is based on. He’s a very sharp young man who’s five years old, and that’s where I got the character from. He’s so intelligent and so smart, he can quote and read the Bible at his age. So, I just put age five up until you’re not interested in picture books anymore, because the principles in the book can help any age, from when they start to read they can get something out of the book — until they aren’t interested.
Tamara: I say five to adulthood! Even as adults, we sometimes don’t know how to respond to things. Like in the book, you tell us, don’t just be spectators — sometimes we just sit there with a camera-phone and video recording instead of doing something. So, this resonates even with us as adults — don’t forget to intervene.
T.W. Bright: I spoke at a bookstore the other day, and a lady asked me, “What would Bright do if this was cyber-bullying?” What I said was that bullying is bullying, so he would pretty much do the same thing, but the key is that the person who is going through bullying feels isolated.
They feel all alone and that nobody is there for them, so I said what Bright would do is reach out to them and let them know that they’re not alone. And then we can start through the other steps.
Like you said, Bright isn’t talking just to kids, but adults as well, because sometimes we don’t think of these things. We see things on social media, people getting picked on, and we never think to reach out to that person and just say “Hey, how are you?”
People kill themselves because they usually feel all alone and everybody hates them. I had a little girl tell me, “Everybody hates me,” and I was about to say that everybody doesn’t hate you, but I looked and I saw that they do treat her like they hate her. So, what I had to do was work with the other kids and teach them how to respect other kids.
One day, after about a month, some other kids were bullying the same girl and they stood up for her. After they stood up for her, I could just see, it just made her day. It changed the whole dynamic of how the children participated with each other.
That was one of the key things that I took and put into Bright and the Bully, and why I wanted to focus on the bystander. Because the bystander, or the spectator, needs to say something.
Tamara: Exactly, they need that support. Any words for anyone who’s looking to write their own children’s book? You talked about getting over fear and being able to push past that, what are some words of encouragement you’d give someone who’s stuck in fear right now, and they’re saying, “I have an idea right now”, but they’ll never push past the pen and paper? What are some words of encouragement that you have?
T.W. Bright: Know that your content is important. Whether that’s writing a book, making YouTube videos, or whatever that is, especially if it’s something that you feel the Lord is putting in your heart, your content is important and you have that for a reason. You have to believe your story needs to be told.
Once you can grasp that, it can help you move past the fear.
For me, it came so alive and was so strong that it just needed to get out, that I couldn’t do anything but get it out. So, if you’re thinking about fear when it comes to things like you’re not good at grammar or you’re not good at this, a lot of authors aren’t.
That’s why you have editors, that’s why you have people to go behind your work and to proofread and things of that sort.
Miles Monroe, he’s not only a great speaker, but he became a bestselling author. One day he was talking about how someone came to him and said, “You’re a great speaker, you should be an author.” He said that he wanted to for a long time, but he doesn’t have the time. The guy said, “I’m with a publishing company, and I have the time, so why don’t we just take your audio and I’ll make it into a book?” and he put them out there. And so he said, “I’ll work with you on that.” They went back and forth, came up with a deal, and now he’s a bestselling author.
I said wait a minute, he didn’t even actually write the books, he just spoke. His content is still in a book though, so, there’s always a way.
You don’t have to do things the traditional way, you just have to get busy and do the things you were called to do.
Whatever that He put in you, you need to go forth and do that, and it’ll make a way for itself.
That’s the place that I had to come to. Instead of wanting somebody else to do it, I just had to get busy and do my part. The rest is history.
So, that’s my encouragement — just do it.
Tamara: Thank you, and you definitely encouraged and inspired me just now too. I have some things and I’m stalling, so thank you for the words.
Where can we find Bright and the Bully?
T.W. Bright: It’s on Amazon – where you can get it in either hardcover or softcover, and also on my website – TWBrightBooks.com On the website you can find the links for the book, and find how to connect with me, and you can find a video blog that I’ve been doing.
Be sure to subscribe for updates because I’m going to be doing more:
Tamara: I was definitely encouraged, motivated, and inspired by your interview. We’ve touched on many areas that will resonate with my listeners. I want to thank you for being a guest on Faith Talk With Tamara and wish you much luck with your book and also the book will be on my website at http://simplytnicole.com because I truly believe in the message that is being shared through Bright and the Bully and I know that it will bless many.
T.W. Bright: Thank you for having me, and continue to be the light, continue to put yourself out there in front of the world. We have to be the example, we have to be the light. Shine, that’s what you were called to do, so thank you and God bless you.
You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)
Meet T.W. Bright At Stirling Books & Brew
Author T.W. Bright – Stirling Books & Brew
Saturday, March 3, 2018 1-3pm
Get your signed copy of Bright & the Bully and listen while T.W. Bright describes the origins of the book, the hurdles he faced in bringing the book to reality, and the lessons he learned through the self-publishing experience.
If you missed his first visit, you won’t want to miss this one!
Bright and the Bully is a vividly illustrated book that helps kids to understand that there are better ways than violence to deal with bullying. In fact, there are five simple steps that kids can take, including dealing with bystanders who are often the biggest part of the problem.
Help kids to be a positive force in their communities with Bright and the Bully, the book that helps kids know there’s a superhero inside all of us and we don’t need capes!
Purchase copies of the book at Stirling Books & Brew and get your copy signed during T.W. Bright’s visit!
Also, if you’re interested in learning about self-publishing you’ll have a chance to ask T.W. Bright questions during a Q&A as part of the presentation. Stirling Books & Brew is a local coffee shop where both children and adults are welcome to join in a friendly community setting. We look forward to seeing you there!
Join the event on Facebook!
Author Visit to Stirling’s Books and Brew
T.W. Bright Author Visit to Stirling’s Books and Brew
Bright and the Bully Book Signing
Part 1
Part 2
The book signing was a huge success where I was able to tell everyone about the history behind Bright and the Bully. I gave away some t-shirts and talked about what being Bright is all about, including where the light bulb idea came from. I had a chance to give some personal history of how I came to be an author and why I went into self-publishing.
I also told about my personal experience dealing with kids and bullying where I helped them deal with the heart of bullying instead of focusing on the bully, which is what Bright and the Bully is all about. You’ll also get to hear about the future of the Bright books.
I discussed how I fine-tuned the book and about working with an illustrator who gave Bright and the Bully the brilliant illustrations. We also were able to hear about how the books have touched the hearts of people all over the country and how awesome it is to see the wonderful Amazon reviews about Bright and the Bully.
One of the questions answered was how I was inspired to write about Bright who is a superhero, but isn’t the typical vigilante, and where the book has action without being violent, while being based on scripture. I told how Bright and the Bully helps kids to deal with their emotions instead of just behavior.
Another question was also answered about how the situation would have been dealt with if it was done through cyber-bullying.
One of my future books was also discussed that’s coming out within a few months, once it’s gone through editing, as well as the experience that brought it about.
The challenges about writing and becoming an author were also questions that were answered and how I overcame them, then signed a bunch of books for the wonderful people that came.
Thank you so much for the support & don’t forget to leave your reviews at Amazon!
Be Bright!
T.W. Bright
Kids Reading Problems
Author’s Experience as a Child – Kids Reading Problems
Help for the Struggling Reader
Today I wanted to address something that I definitely think is important. I wanted to just put this out there because I believe a lot of other children are suffering from exactly what I suffered from when I was young and they may not know how to address it or know what to do with it.
It may discourage them from moving forward in any other capacity. I know, for a long time, it held me back and I didn’t even know that it was holding me back until I got over it.
I want to just let you in on something. It came up because the question was asked, “At what age was it that you fell in love with books and what age was it that you fell in love with reading?”
I think that’s a common question when it comes to interviewing an author or talking to an author. You automatically assume that this person has always been in love with books.
Growing up, my younger sister, who is two years younger than me, she absolutely loved books, she was a fanatic. I, on the other hand, didn’t.
I loved subjects like math — she loved reading and spelling. I could barely spell and it always made me embarrassed and ashamed. It made me feel like I wasn’t going to get anywhere in that department.
When it came to school, I was one of those kids that, when I got to English class and reading, where I knew we were going to read out loud, I would act like I was sick, I would act like I was sleepy, and I would put my head down on the desk.
Obviously, I was not really learning a lot in those classes because of my embarrassment to read out loud. The thing about it is, my mother wasn’t a reader, she never really instilled reading into us because she wasn’t a reader. My sister just loved to do it on her own.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, I actually could read, but when it came to reading out loud, forget about it. It seemed like I absolutely couldn’t read because my nerves were through the roof.
I’ve noticed that there are a lot of other kids like that in the school system, where I go and volunteer, that there’s a lot of kids that absolutely won’t read — they’re too embarrassed. Sometimes when they do read, they can barely pronounce or say the simplest words.
At first, I was thinking that man, these kids just can’t read. But, it may be a matter like it was with me when it comes to reading out loud or in public where you freeze up.
I didn’t get over this until I was 25 years old. I can’t believe I went my entire life living like this — pretty much in fear. I always prided myself in not being fearful of things, but I was absolutely terrified to read out loud.
It wasn’t until one day, a friend of mine from California, a young lady that really helped me to overcome this. She asked me did I want to do Bible study? Would I do Bible studies with her? We were going to do it, I think every day by phone because I had just become saved recently. I was terrified to say yes, but I didn’t want to say no to her at the same time because I was really zealous about the Word and I wanted to move forward. So, I said yes.
I got this Bible from a pastor friend of mine that was pretty tough, it wasn’t an easy Bible. But, when I called, she said, “Ok, you read first,” and I kind of froze up because I didn’t want to read. I got to stuttering and telling her, and she encouraged me and she continued to encourage me. She didn’t laugh, she didn’t snicker, she was perfectly calm and acted like nothing was wrong.
It really took me to make myself vulnerable, first of all, and to be comfortable enough with her in order to move past that. As the time went past, I started to love to read out loud. Now, as a minister, I read out loud all the time, I’m always reading out loud.
But, I’m reflecting on this, because it kind of just went away, because someone, who took the time, to not criticize me, to not overly critique me, but just really listen and understand, and act like nothing was wrong.
It gave me the confidence and built me up in order for me to overcome that.
Part of me being an author now is not just because of that event, but it has something to do with me overcoming that. Part of it was because when I first had the idea, when I felt like the Lord gave me the ideas to do this, I tried to pass it off to my sister.
I tried to pass it off to people because I didn’t have the confidence in myself. When nobody else would do it, I ended up having to prove to myself that I can do it.
Since then I’ve written three children’s books that I’ve got manuscripts for and I’m almost done with my second novel, and I just had a great idea this morning for another one.
But, my point is, there’s a lot of kids out there that suffer from this. And the bullying culture that we have makes it almost impossible for them to get over it because the minute that they mess up, the minute that they say the wrong thing, people laugh at them.
It’s not only from the kids, but from the expression that the teacher gives, the expression that the parent gives, the expression from people around, anybody around.
I’m always reminded of the young lady who helped me. I have much respect for her, I will always have much respect for her, that’s why I love her because she took the time to just be normal and act like nothing was wrong.
She encouraged me when I needed encouraging, and built me up when I needed building up. That’s more of what we need when it comes to working with these kids, these reluctant readers, these children that don’t believe in themselves.
It’s a lack of belief in themselves, and once they get the confidence they can achieve anything.
That’s like everything — once you get the confidence, once you start to believe you can do something, you’ll do it.
I wanted to do this video today, because there’s a parent out there that has a child that’s just like I was. There are teachers who have students just like I was. You have a grandkid, a niece, a nephew, you know somebody, that’s like that and they could do a lot if they only believed in themselves and if they only had someone to encourage them and build them up.
I wanted to leave that with you today. I hope this video reaches somebody, touches somebody, and helps somebody, because it’s hard living in fear of something as simple as reading aloud and it’ll hold you back in school big time.
It’ll hold you back from achieving a lot. It’ll hold you back from a lot of knowledge because not only will you not read in front of people, but you’ll tend to not read even when you’re by yourself.
I hope that helps.
Take care, take charge, and God bless,
T.W. Bright
Meet T.W. Bright Author!
Meet T.W. Bright!
See the Event on Facebook Here
If you’re in the Albion, MI area, I hope you can come and meet me at Stirling Books and Brew coffee shop and bookstore. You’ll be able to get a signed copy of Bright and the Bully!
T.W. Bright Author Visit
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Stirling Books & Brew
119 N Superior St.
Albion, MI 49224
Hope to see you there!
Leave Your Review!
If you’ve purchased a copy of Bright and the Bully on Amazon – be sure to leave a review – it’s a big help to spreading the word!
Raising Godly Kids – What About Homeschooling?
Raising Godly Kids – What About Homeschooling?
Before I start, I want to point out that I don’t feel that homeschooling is the only option for raising godly kids. I have seen many parents and children thrive in a public school environment and for some families this is the best option. I have also known many public school teachers who are truly doing their best to teach and help children in positive ways that those children wouldn’t otherwise encounter. So, I want to state that I feel parents need to make the best decision for themselves and their children.
I’m sitting here with my sisters and I was talking to someone, a young lady around thirteen years old. This young lady has been in church her entire life, but she’s really unclear about a lot of things. We were talking, how do you produce that? How is that being produced in the churches nowadays?
I see so many adults that grow up and they’re just “religious-minded”. They can go to church and the church is a permanent fixture in their life that they do “religiously”, but outside of church they have very little direction and they have very little understanding on what the Word of God says, very little understanding of everything.
One of the things that came up is the fact of school and both of my sisters homeschool. It has become a lifestyle practice to intermingle our faith with our schoolwork, and with everyday things. I’m sure you can hear the kids in the background now because they’re a part of this and so they’re hearing this as well.
But, this has become a lifestyle — more than just a ritual or something to do on a Sunday, or a Tuesday, or a Saturday, or whatever day that anyone worships on.
I think that a lot of things that cause unsureness in a lot of kids that attend school, is that if you had to measure time on weights, they’re in school 5 days a week, 8 hours a day — where as, you’re going to church, maybe, 2-3 times a week for a couple hours. And the church time that they have on a weekly basis wouldn’t even equal up to one day at school.
So, the school influence is going to weigh heavier in their life and in their lifestyles than the church message if they’re only getting it those couple of days a week.
The big thing is, what they’re getting at school is lifestyle differences about different religions, different moral things, so they’re getting that more than their getting the true faith and the true Word. I think that’s where the discourse comes in, I think that’s where the confusion comes in for kids. It’s just outweighed in their household, outweighed in their lifestyles.
I’ve found that very true. And one of the things, it’s not that we’re trying to say “hey, increase the church hours,” because that’s not what the whole thing here is. But the main focus is to make Christ a permanent fixture in their lives.
Oftentimes, what you see is that if you get into that routine of going on a certain day that that day becomes the day, that your kids even, program to perform on. We weren’t called to be performers, that’s what we call in the hood or in the world as being fake or fronting.
What we see today is we see a lot of fronting, we see a lot of “Sunday-believers”, or “Saturday-believers”, or just “religious” people and that’s not what this is calling for. So, when I look at them and doing this from a homeschool standpoint, I see that the children are learning to connect with God on every aspect.
And so school is void from that because you can’t even mention God at school, you can’t pray at school. As a children’s book writer, every time you go to publish a book they’re always going to say that you can’t even mention God in it. That’s what the children are being programmed to and that would explain a lot of it.
We find this all across the board. When you go to college, that’s when the “anti” God comes, you’re teaching about evolution, and you’re looked at as being crazy for thinking like this. Because the young lady was talking about agnostic vs atheist because she has a friend that is and she doesn’t know how to deal with that as a young Christian girl.
Pretty much, the church has failed getting in front of these kinds of issues and I think that ties back into that she doesn’t even know if it’s right or wrong. The question was “was it even right or wrong to be agnostic or atheist” and there’s a clear idea that there was a breakdown of communication and a breakdown of faith in her life somewhere for her not to be able to stand strong and stand up for what she believes because she doesn’t even know what she believes.
That’s why my thought was “where’s she getting the unbelief from?” and I had to think, if she isn’t raised like that and her home isn’t like that, then she’s getting the unbelief from some outside sources.
And then the question is also, how do you, even when you send your kids to school, because a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to homeschool, how do you still implement that faith? And I believe it’s by you being a living example.
You have to be a living example, you can’t just go to church on those three days a week. You have to be a living example. “Bible Study” has to be a lifestyle in your lives, the Word has to come alive in your life because the children will follow you no matter how old they are they’re going to follow their parents, even if they have outside influences of school.
Because a lot of people say, “I can’t homeschool, what can I do?”, and it’s that you have to live that Word that you want your kids to know, to have that faith, you have to live it yourself.
You have to be the light, you have to be the example and the minute you start deviating from those things your kids notice.
My mom use to say “Do as I say, not as I do!” and I grew up doing everything she did, so I think that’s important.
And when it comes to “religious people” and when you see that breakdown in their kids, being hellions out in the world, it’s a lot of times, because the parents are living double-standards.
I don’t think that’s in every case, but double-standards will kill us. And one thing that I feel, if you’re a young mother or a young father, and you’re wondering “where are these things coming from?”, you have to understand that everything around you, and everything around your children are suggesting “anti” Christ — the music, the TV shows.
If you let your kids watch Nickelodeon and Disney, they’re talking about boyfriends and wanting to kiss and all those different things — those things are teaching your kids the opposite of what you’re trying to instill in them.
All of the music that the kids are listening to, with me working at school, these kids are singing songs from people who are 30-40 years old! Beyonce and J-Z are in their 40’s and they know “So Crazy in Love” and all these different songs. And they’re doing Chris Brown moves — Chris Brown is an adult that can make his own decisions about what he wants and with women, and these young boys are singing that.
You have to look at the track record. You also gotta look, conversations can be so simple. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to open up a conversation with the little girl. But, how often do people genuinely ask kids questions? They tell the kid to stay in the kid’s place.
“If you’re not asking my opinion, how can I be open to asking questions, even about my faith? Is it really my faith or is it my parents faith?”
So, if you don’t ask them certain questions or you don’t allow time to talk with them then they won’t ever really have their own faith, they’ll have examples of what their mom did or their grandma did. God can be very powerful in their life, they can stay up all night and pray and you’ll never know why they could be sleeping for school.
These are subtle attacks that you won’t know unless your parents explain it to you.
And that’s one of the things we had to tell her was that there’s no right or wrong answer here, don’t just try to give me the answer that I want to hear. I want to know how you feel, I want to know what your feelings are on these subjects.
This is not just performance, I want to know what’s your take on this. And when she told me the take, I didn’t scold her for it. I just explained to her, if you believe this way, then this is what you believe. This is what the scriptures say about that. If you believe this way, this is what the scriptures say about that.
This is coming from a healthy understanding of “yes, we’ve gotta start talking to them,” and getting the idea of how they believe and not just assuming.
To go back to the music and the things that we put in front of our kids, I feel we also have to take a look at, yes, a lot has changed as far as the music industry, but a lot has really stayed the same. And if you think about when we were teenagers, there was a lot of music that was around back then we probably shouldn’t have listened to — and where did it get us?
It got us to be doing things contrary to what we should have been doing.
I remember SWV had that song “Weak”, “I get so weak in the knees,” — all the kids were singing that.
All of the kids were singing that and shouldn’t have been singing that, we were in junior high!
And now as I’m older and I really break down that song in the way it was really talking about, there were so many sexual innuendoes.
We were bringing on all of that over us, singing it over and over.
So, the music has not really changed too much, but it has gotten worse. You have to understand, the same thing that is coming over your kids is the same thing that was trying to come over you.
And quit trying to be like, “Aw, just let them do it,” because where did that get you?
When you do have things like that, you gotta realized that certain things that we say out of our mouth are either blessings or curses. You’re either going to bless them by what you say and what you do, or your going to curse them.
I don’t know why people don’t believe that it’s the same thing for themselves. If I sing this music over me, I’m inviting the same problems. That’s why we associate so well with music, we can find one about any way that we’re feeling. So, if I’m sad — I’m going to turn on some sad music, if I’m happy — I’m going to turn on some happy music.
That’s why God said that songs come out of the spirit, because the spirit that’s behind these songs you won’t find out until it’s overtaken you, and you’ll be like, “man, this music is crazy, why am I feeling like this?”.
It shouldn’t be like gospel music with a hip-hop rap beat. There has to be a separation, if you’re going to be holy for Christ. You can’t be double-minded, you can’t be having double-standards, for you or your kids.
We’ve always had this conversation because music has always been such a huge part of all of our lives. That’s the universal language, music is, so that’s one of the biggest things that’s going on as far as influence in our children today. And the music has gotten so much worse and so much more explicit, and we’ve gotta do our part.
But, I wanted to talk about this because there’s definitely a breakdown in today’s “Christian” or today’s “believer” compared to what we see that the scriptures say that it should be.
In talking with one of the kids, who’s 4 years old and he picked up from the talk “Nickelodeon”, so you see just in conversation you have to be very careful about what you say around your kids!
TW Bright
Christ of this Age
Christ of this Age – This Will Change Your Life
One of the main scriptures I’m coming from is Hebrews 1:1-2. We’ve been speaking about the ministry of reconciliation. We found that this is the ministry that Christ operated in and this is the ministry that he left us.
We found that each and every believer has the responsibility to reconcile men and women back to the Father. Hence our roles as ambassadors of Christ.
It is my belief that many believers don’t see themselves as such. Many people leave this great responsibility to those who they see as the leaders.
I believe this way of thinking comes in a few different ways.
One being the lack of understanding of who you are in Christ. Typically I advise against self-centeredness, or thinking high of yourself, but I believe that it’s imperative for you to know just how great you are in Christ.
It’s not you that’s actually great, but the Christ that is in you. Normally we talk about taking away from self-centeredness, but it’s imperative to know how great you are because you have Christ in you.
Here we go back to the “us” — every believer, when you become converted you have His presence inside of you.
Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets and now in these final days He has spoken to us through His Son. God promised everything to His Son as an inheritance and through the Son He created the universe.
Now understand, in the Old Testament, the connection to God had been cut off due to the Fall when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, that communication line was seared. So, in the Old Testament, what we would see is God speaking to people in many different ways.
He would do what He had to do to get His message across. A message could come from a prophet, a burning bush, a donkey, or even an angel, but it was always an outside source. It’s important to understand this.
In the second verse they’re trying to give Christ the credibility that He deserves, they’re walking you through and showing what God said about His Son. The scriptures are telling us, now after Christ died, and the veil was torn, He speaks to us through Christ.
It is no longer an outside source but He lives inside us. He’s in every person, each and every person who put their trust in Him. It is important that you understand that God has placed that same Spirit, His Spirit, in us all.
If you don’t understand this you’ll always be relying on someone else, you’ll rely on pastors, deacons, ministers — you’ll hold them to a high standard, but you neglect to hold yourself to that same standard.
In the Old Testament they would always rely on someone else — they would ask Moses, ‘Go talk to God for us’, or ask one of the prophets.
The people, when Moses went up there, they were waiting on him and Moses wasn’t coming back, so what did they start doing? They started sacrificing, putting all their gold in and making the golden calf — they wanted somebody or something to worship.
They always wanted to rely on something else. They didn’t have God living inside of them at the time.
So, Moses would come back and he would give them a message and the people would change for awhile, but they would always rebel. They would go right back to being hellions.
We see this time and time again because most people hold leadership to a higher standard than themselves.
They see the leadership as being great, but can’t see the greatness in themselves.
Men of God, men of valor, woman of virtue — those are some of the things that people see when they see leadership.
When you look at somebody and you admire them — “Man, he’s such a man of God,” or “She’s a woman of virtue,” — these are the things that you think.
But sometimes the lines get twisted and they fail to realize that the only thing that makes them great is the Christ that is living inside of them. And the Christ living inside of them is the same Christ that will be living inside of you.
We have to shift our understanding and our knowledge of ourselves because if we keep on looking at everybody else being something and us being nothing, you never walk in that greatness — you never walk into what it is that Christ has called you to walk into.
If he is inside of you, you are too — you are a “man of valor”, “a woman of virtue”, but you have to see that for yourself.
You end up walking in that, you have to see that for yourself, you can’t always just see that for other people. It’s easy for me to see the greatness in other people.
One of the things that I used to struggle with most is seeing into myself because I felt like I was a wretch. Now, wretched man as I am, we all know that this flesh is vile. And we know that we have all seen and fallen short to the glory of God, but when Christ comes in, now you have been renewed.
You have to understand that you can walk in that newness — it says renew your mind, walk, and crucify yourself daily. Step away from all selfishness and all of those things, but you have to know that about yourself.
You don’t want to boast in those things that you used to do, but you have to leave those things where they are. When He said you are forgiven, He actually forgave you.
There’s no doubt in my mind, as a minister, that there is some woman or some man that has probably never spoken in the front of the room, that is not even very good at speaking, but still has a more deeper, intimate relationship with God than I do.
And my point is, God has no respect of person, God shows no favoritism. When I came into the body of Christ and Pastor told me that I was saved and I had my own connection with God, I took her at her word because I didn’t know where the scriptures were at.
But when I started getting deeper in the scriptures I was like, “Hey, He has made me new!”, and the more confident I got in that, the more I was willing to give up different things because I saw myself different. You have to see yourself different.
You can’t always look at other people as being different. I always looked at certain people like, “man, I wish I had what they had,“ and that’s ok to do that. It’s ok to say “man, I love his zeal,” “I love this, I love that,” but you have to know that God has done the same thing for you.
On the cross He took all that, for you, not just for the leadership. What do you think being a disciple is all about? Once someone disciples you, you become the leader, you go and make another disciple.
Christianity, this world would never have spread it if people were stagnant, just looking at the leadership. All of the people had that, that’s why some people prophesy, that’s why some people had visions, had dreams, that’s why all these different people had different things that were going on because the Spirit of God flows through all of us.
It never would have been, we probably would never be here with the Word. If it weren’t for Peter, and Paul, and all of them — they were actually there with Him and they took what they saw and they gave it to somebody else. That person took from them, because they became the Christ of their age, and went to somebody else, and that person took and went to somebody else, going over and over from one person to the next, all making disciples.
Because the Spirit of God has no respect of ‘person’. He will flow through you if you align yourself with His Word, He will flow through you just like anybody else. But it all starts with how you see yourself.
God used many approaches to send His message to people in the Old Testament time. He spoke to Isaiah in visions, He spoke to Jacob in dreams, Abraham and Moses personally.
Jewish people familiar with these stories would not have found it hard to believe that God was still revealing His will. But it was astonishing to them to think God had revealed Himself by speaking through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s revelation through the centuries. When we know Him, we have all we need to be saved from our sins to have a perfect relationship with God.
Going back to the fact that He started using Christ, this is the new way. The old way was where He would come to the people from different areas.
Hebrews: The Son so radiates God’s own glory and expresses the clear character of God. And He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave Him is greater than their name.
Again, they’re establishing who He is, the Son is far greater than the angels.
The Son is greater than the angels, for God never said to an angel what He said to Jesus.
Hebrews 1-2
You are my Son, today I have become your Father. God also said I will be His Father and He will be my Son. And when He brought His supreme Son into the world, God said let all of God’s angels worship Him. Regarding the angels He said He sends His angels like the wind, His servants like flames of fire, but to the Son He says your throne, Oh, God, endures forever and ever, you rule with the scepter of justice. You love justice and you hate evil, therefore Oh, God, your God has anointed you, poured out the oil of joy on you more than anyone else. He also says to the Son, in the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. They will perish, but you will remain forever, they will wear out like old clothes, you will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing, but you are always the same. You will live forever and God never said to an angel sit at the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. Therefore angels are only servants, spirit sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.
Who inherits salvation? Us.
You, us.
What I need you to understand is that you are the Christ of this age.
Understand what I’m saying, because Christ lives in you. You are to fulfill the same mission that Christ was fulfilling. Reconciling, He reconciled us, and we take that and we go and reconcile men and women back to the Father. It’s the same thing.
If you understand that your responsibility is the same as Christ then you probably would act different. If you saw yourself as having the same responsibility that Christ did, you probably would operate different.
When you raise kids and you set a high standard for them, they usually rise to that standard.
It’s just like in sports with the record breaking. The 4-minute mile, they felt like somebody would die if they ever did the 4-minute mile. When the first person did the 4-minute mile, the standard was raised and everybody started doing it.
So, it’s the same thing, you have to look at Christ as the standard, and you have to know that this is the same mission, you are the Christ of this age. The only way people will see Christ is when they see it through you.
That’s why in Philippians it says that you will be found blameless and shine like bright lights, because you are the light. You are the light of Christ. We are that radiance that they were talking about. The other scripture says that you are the righteousness.
Hebrews 2: 5-9
And furthermore it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. For, in one place the scripture says What are mere mortals that you should think about them.
Who’s a mere mortal? You, us.
Or a Son of man that you should care for Him. Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them authority over all things. Now when I say all things it means that nothing is left out, but we have not yet seen all things yet put under their authority. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position a little lower than angels. And because He suffered death for us, He is now crowned with glory and honor.
And yes, by God’s glory, Jesus tested death for everyone. Look at that, because right now we are a little lower than the angels, why? Because we’re in this flesh body. We have this sinful nature attached.
But, what about when Jesus comes back with that new glorified body?
I Corinthians 6:2-3
And it says: Do you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? Do you realize that we will judge angels? So, you should surely be able resolve ordinary disputes in this life.
So, here it’s telling us that one day we will be judging even the angels. And so, what he’s talking about here is about avoiding the Christian lawsuits, and we should be able to operate in a higher manner. Because we know who we are.
What he’s testifying here is “Don’t you know who you are in Christ?” We shouldn’t be bickering about everything, we shouldn’t have to fight about everything, we should be able to resolve our situations. Because why? Because you know who you are.
Who? Us. You have to know who you are.
You have to know that greatness lives inside of you.
So, like Christ was made lower than the angels for a little while, and Christ will return with a glorified body, and we will judge even the angels.
This to me, is a testament of who we are through God’s eyes. He loves us, He actually loves us. He loves us enough that He sent His Son to die and to reconcile us. And now that we have been reconciled, we are in His right standing. He loves that.
You are the Christ of this age and it is important that you see yourself as such.
I Corinthians 5:20-21
So, we are Christ’s ambassadors, God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plea Come back to God. For God made Christ who never sinned to be an offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
In another translation, the second one says: God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
So, you have become the righteousness of God. What does it look like when you are out and you are not acting righteous? It’s a big contradiction. How we look to the world is so important.
Because oftentimes, when we operate we’re often out here operating just like the world, they see something totally different than they should be seeing and when I say you are witnessing something no matter what.
If you’re not bringing them close to Christ, what are you doing? You’re pushing them away.
The way you function on a daily basis you’re either pushing them away or you’re bringing them towards Him.
And I’m not just talking about when you’re quoting scriptures or when you’re talking to people about the Word of God. I’m talking about our lifestyles.
Our lifestyles are either encouraging them to live for the Lord, or encouraging them to live for the other guy.
Acts 2:17
And in the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
There it is again, “all people”, you have to see yourself as a part of this. You have to see yourself included in these scriptures.
Every time it’s talking about Paul or Peter, or John, or anybody, you have to see yourself in that also, because you represent that place in this age. They’re gone, who’s here? We’re here.
Oftentimes I’ll look and I’ll say, man, things have changed so much, and I used to be unsure if I could be the person that all the older people would want me to be. Because somebody’s gotta pick it up and somebody’s gotta carry the torch.
But, oftentimes I’ll look and be like, man, it doesn’t seem like anybody’s carrying the torch.
And the older I get, I feel like, man, I gotta have some responsibility in there. But, that is how we are all supposed to feel when it comes to this world, because you do carry the torch.
Pastor’s not going to be here forever, ministers aren’t going to be here forever, somebody’s gotta take it and keep it on.
That’s why I say the Christ of this age, I’m not being like you “are” Christ, I’m saying that Christ lives in you, His Spirit lives in you, and you testify to who He is, to who He was, in bringing men and women back to God.
We have to carry the torch.
There’s no in-between, we’re either reconciling, or no we aren’t.
You have to see this for yourself, you have to recognize that we are the ones that this Bible is talking about. As long as you always see yourself as separate, you will never rise to the occasion.
You will never be fulfilling what it is that God has called you to fulfill. We just won’t.
Sometimes we’re so focused on man, that we can’t hear what God is saying. We can’t see any of the warning signs that God is saying, because we don’t know who we are, we’re always too busy looking at somebody else.
So, my message today is really just trying to get us to start looking at what God has put in you.
What’s the level that God wants you to operate at?
So, you can’t point and say “if your son did something like that, now that would be a problem because he’s a minister,” — that’s garbage, that is absolute nonsense!
So you mean to tell me that you doing it is ok, but him it’s something different? That’s not scriptural.
We are all to stand as Christ stood on this earth and the minute that we can start realizing, the minute we can start seeing ourselves as being the light of this world, as the scripture constantly tells us — You are the light of this world, so you don’t hide your light under a bushel — when we embrace that, when we understand that God has put this marvelous light inside of us, and we shine, we shine bright, when He’s telling us to be found blameless, to walk away from our sins, we can operate on this higher level because we are assured through Him on who we are. That’s a beautiful thing.
Over this whole thing I kept bringing up reconciliation because I want people to understand that is your duty, that is your obligation, it’s not an option. That’s just who we all are, you don’t really have to look for your calling, that is your calling.
We all function in separate arenas, we all have different places that we serve and we carry that out in, but we all are doing the same thing.
Who is the Christ of this age? We are.
We gotta embrace that. I have to embrace that, I’m not just talking to you all, because I have to hold myself to a higher standard.
TW Bright
Why the Black Man Must Write
Why the Black Man Must Write
Interesting title, right? I think so myself.
While I can use any nationality in the title, I chose to use the black man for a couple of reasons.
The first one being that I am a black man, and for the longest time I just automatically thought that writing wasn’t for me. I automatically thought that I wasn’t good enough to write.
And as I got older, I kind of started thinking about what were the things that shaped that reality for me? Why was I convinced that I had nothing to offer to the world when it came to creating, from a writing standpoint?
I tell you, mainly it was because in school I wasn’t good at English, I wasn’t good at spelling. This was something that I automatically counted myself out.
I was that kid that would come into class and put my head down because I was afraid to read aloud in front of everyone else.
So, quite naturally, you could imagine, I would have nothing to do with anything to do with writing or reading. So, this is why I wanted to make this blog — because I know there’s other young black men out there that feel the same way.
I was going to say that there’s other young men period, black, white, no matter what. But I’m focusing mainly on the black man for this reason, because I know for a fact from where I come from most of the kids don’t have examples that could talk to them from this perspective, this point of view.
I even thought about taking my hat off today because typically when I want to do a video I want to be “presentable”. I don’t want to come off a certain way.
But, the thing that I’m realizing and I’m understanding is that everyone’s differences don’t count them out. Just because I don’t come in a suit and a tie with a smile — don’t believe that I don’t love God. Or just because I don’t come in a suit and tie doesn’t mean I’m not about my business.
And so the typical frame of an author that I see, and I saw, never looked like me. So, I want to be an example, but I also want to get this point across.
I’m going to go back and tell you a story about me growing up. As I stated earlier, me growing up, I wanted nothing to do with writing, I wanted nothing to do with reading. And, my sister, my younger sister who’s two years younger than me was the complete opposite.
It was like she was born into it, because our mother wasn’t a reader, she wasn’t someone that read to us all the time or anything like that. My sister just came out wanting to read, she came out very intelligent.
I remember, at an early age feeling like my sister was a lot more smarter than me and that messed with my self-confidence even more.
She would read some of anything, but most of the books that I saw, I had absolutely no interest in.
You see, I wanted to watch stuff like New Jack City. The outside world, the reality that I faced, people were selling drugs, people were shooting, people were robbing, people were going to prison.
All the men that I knew were in jail or on the corners. So, the reality that I saw was not like that, what was in those books. I couldn’t escape into anything to do with teen love or any of that stuff, that’s not what I was looking for.
I didn’t even know that this played a part in me not wanting to read.
But it wasn’t until one day I was in school and they did a mandatory thing where we had to read this book. We had to read a book and we had to do a report on it.
And I would typically do the little thing where I would look on the back and I would try to hurry up and I would try to write something from what I got from the back.
But, for some reason this time I figured I’m going to have to get a book and I’m going to have to actually read this book. We went to the library and they said you can pick out any book that you want, I’m not going to give you a book, but you have to read this book.
I picked up this book, and it was a book called Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers.
I was really intrigued by this book because, first of all, I saw that the person on the book cover looked like me. And also, some of the lingo that I read real quick resonated with me because I recognized it, I understood it. Me coming from the streets, I understood what it was talking about in this book, so I’m going to read this book.
And I tell you, this is the first time in my life that I had ever picked up a book and was serious about reading this book and I could not put it down.
I finally understood how my sister felt. I was engulfed in this book by Walter Dean Myers, called Scorpion.
The main character had a lot in common with me, his mother working, him and his siblings at home, still being faced with the little things in the community and stuff like that.
I connected with this book and for the first time I was just blown away with reading.
Now I would be lying if I said I became an avid reader after that. I just wanted to stress the point that this was my first time being able to connect in a book.
And as I reflect on it now and try to wonder — why did it take me so long to get to that place?
It was mostly because everything that I saw and everything that I heard in those books, I didn’t identify with.
And so, as I look at my little niece the other day, on her third birthday, put on a little doctor’s coat and say she wanted to be a doctor, because she was looking at this young character, Doc McStuffins, someone that looked like her, and be so excited about being a doctor.
It just came to me and I realized, I’ve known this, but it just really connected and that’s why I wanted to write and do this vlog today because I want you to see the importance on characters that look like you.
If you’re black, if you’re hispanic, if you’re indian, I don’t care what you are, there needs to be books, there needs to be content, I don’t just want to say books, because content is important.
The thing about it is, is we all die. You die, I die, we all die, but the content lives on. And so, here it is, people are putting out content that’s going to live for years and years. If you look at the Bible, that content has been passed on forever.
I was watching a little documentary the other day and they’ve got a gay Bible out now. The thing about it is, even if people don’t resonate with that Bible today — 20, 30, 40, 50 years from when everybody dies off there’s going to be a whole new set of people and they’re going to be living by a whole different set of standards.
Why do people write stuff, why do they create literature?
They create literature because literature, or content, lives on.
And so, when I say why the black man must write it’s because you have to leave your story. You have to leave content.
You can’t leave it up to everyone else to paint your narrative.
We’ve done that for so long and that’s why the narratives, even to you and to your little kids, they buy into this narrative of what we’re supposed to be like, what you’re supposed to be like.
And I just don’t want to make this a white vs black thing, I’m specifically talking to black people.
You have a responsibility to create.
You can’t leave it to everyone else to create. And this is the reason why I have this new found passion. It’s not like I was born and I’ve had this desire to write, write books, children’s books, adult books, whatever, but I’ve always had ideas.
I’ve always had stories, I just didn’t know I was good enough to write them down.
I just didn’t know I was good enough to put it into action. Because somehow, society has shaped it in my mind as a little kid that it wasn’t for me.
But, now as I’m older I see. I want to encourage each and every person, I don’t care how good you are, how good you think you are, there’s editors for that.
There’s transcribers for that, there’s people that can take your thoughts and put it into words.
You need to create content. Your voice needs to be heard. No one else has your voice. No one else can give what you can give.
And these are self-talks I have for myself.
When I first had ideas about writing, I begged somebody, went to my sister, went to everybody — “I need you to write this!”
But no one took the time to be passionate enough to do exactly what I wanted them to do. When I did find people to do it, they couldn’t match the voice that I had. Or match the understanding, they couldn’t get out what I wanted to get out.
So, guess who’s left to do it. You.
And whatever it is you put out, is going to live on, someone’s going to hear it, and depending on what it is you write, you could change the world. You could make the world a better place, at least for one person.
So, why the black man must write is because you have to leave your narrative, you have to tell your story, you can’t leave it up to everyone else.
You’ll die, but your words, your content, your videos, your writings, those things live on.
If you want to be remembered for doing anything, the best way to do it is to put it in a book, to put it in video form, put it in audio form. You have to leave content. And that’s what it is.
I’ll tell you this, once you start, you won’t regret it. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be so excited about being able to overcome this place that you thought that you could never go and it’ll encourage you to continue to make more content.
I started off with one book idea, I’ve already finished three children’s books. I’m half through two adult books. And it’s been a blessing to me. I’ve always had stories on my heart, I just never thought that I was the one that could be able to put them out there.
And so, you can look forward to a lot from me and I’m going to continue to create. And it’s going to venture off into more than just writing. I highly want to encourage you guys, encourage you to get out there and start putting your words, putting your thoughts into words. It’s important, it’s important for the future, for your legacy.
So, that’s really all I had today for this blog, and I hope you would take the time to review this and perhaps share it with someone, share it with a young man.
Share it with a teenage boy that may be in that same place that I was in – could care less about school, could care less about reading, because everything that they saw it wasn’t reality. It wasn’t the reality that they have back at home. There’s plenty of people like that.
So, that’s all I have for you.
Take care, take charge, and God bless!
TW Bright
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Diversity and Experience with Kids at Cumberland Elementary School
TW Bright’s Experience with Diversity and Kids at Cumberland Elementary
Hey today, I want to share with you something that is really cool. I’m actually going to take you a different page, but before I do, I want to give you a quick story behind it.
Last year I had the greatest opportunity to volunteer at one of the most awesomest schools I’ve ever been to, Cumberland Elementary School. For you all who are a part of Cumberland, I give you a shout out and I tell you, I love you guys — you guys are awesome.
When I go to this school, I started seeing kids from all different nationalities, and I’m not just talking about African-American and black. I’m talking about kids from China, from Guam, from Ethiopia, kids who speak Swahili, kids that speak all different kinds of languages, everywhere.
And I’m like, what’s this? First of all, I was actually transporting the kids, and some of the kids I was transporting couldn’t understand me. So, I’m a person who likes challenges and I was excited that I was able to do that, so I asked, could I volunteer?
I was cleared to volunteer and when I went to volunteer, one of the most awesome things happened. I saw this picture when I went into one of the classrooms, Ms. Rodriguez’s classroom, and it was this sea of different nationalities. It was probably only three different kids, three different languages that were represented in that one class at the time.
But, it was so awesome because I was thinking about at the kids and how they were able to see the world from a different light, from somewhere that not even I’ve ever seen it before.
We have kids with the Muslim hijab things, whatever they’re called to cover your head, you know, you just see people from different countries and they look different, they sound different, and they dress different. One of the things with a lot of the kids from the African nations is the boys wore pink and purple, and it was totally new to me living here in America.
I started to see that it’s really all about our perception – the way that we see things.
So, this was a great opportunity for me and I think it was a great opportunity for the children as well.
Just to see and just to know that these kids are going to be able to go anywhere and relate to anybody because of the experience they had as a little kid at school. They’re going to be able to accept people who are different than them. They’re going to be able to accept people who talk different than them and who smell different than them, because quite frankly, they’ve got some different smells too.
So, it was an awesome opportunity and it was one that I will never forget. I want to give a shout out to Ms. Rodriguez, one of the most awesomest third grade teachers, Ms. Walker, I love these two, Ms. Rusesky, the principal, and everyone else, there’s a ton of other teachers, and I can’t name them all. But, with this Vlog I wanted to share that, and I’m going to write a blog behind this as well because I think that this is something that needs to be shared.
You don’t find this every day. I don’t know if you’re political or not, if you’re on Trump’s side, if you’re on the other side, I don’t care about any of those sides.
I’m not looking at this as a political thing, I’m looking at this as something that absolutely is sharing love, caring for other people, caring for your neighbor.
Some of the things that I saw, because I had the opportunity to come back up there this year, (I just left the school), but it was such a blessing to my heart to be able to see some of the kids that I worked with last year.
There’s one kid, it was him and his brother that got on the bus, and these two kids they seemed so angry, like an angry spirit or demeanor to them, they didn’t trust people, they were mean, they used to spit, all of these different things.
As the time went past, I saw them gradually loosen up, get better, and started to trust people. And right then I said, this is such a blessing.
Because here it is, these kids are probably scared out of their minds, God knows what they’ve been through, but they’ve had the opportunity to come here to the United States of America and come to this little school called Cumberland Elementary, and their whole life is being changed from this very experience.
This year I was able to see the one gentleman as well, and he’s a totally different kid, (his brother isn’t at the school anymore), but it really blessed my heart.
He was one of the kids that, in the wintertime, we had to go and buy him clothes because he was coming with shorts on and he was out shivering.
And just to see the growth in him, and the happiness in him, it brings a lot of joy to my heart. So, this is an experience that I’ve been blessed with, I feel like I was blessed by God just to have this experience, and this is an experience that I will never let go, I will never forget, and this actually made me a better person and I am grateful for that.
I would encourage any of you to go do something like this.
I believe that you need to experience things new and experience things different because other than that we’d be stuck in our own minds and having our own understanding and ideas about things.
But, there’s a lot out there that can change your perspective, and I’m not even saying that I had the wrong perspective of illegal immigrants, or immigrants, or anything like that because I didn’t go into it with a perception at all or a perspective at all, but, I came out a better person by this.
Like I said, I want to shout out to Cumberland Elementary, you guys are great and I appreciate you and I appreciate all that you do for those kids.
I’m going to go and send you over to this other video that’s going to give you an understanding, to give you a snapshot of what they do at Cumberland, this little map that they made, this is the centerpiece in the hallway. It really just tells it all, it’s awesome.
Check out the video to see it!
Remember, guys, if you like my videos and my blog, wherever you see this at, make sure you subscribe to stay updated, like it, make some comments.
I like to hear what you guys think, so go ahead and comment, like this, and subscribe!
Take care, take charge, and God bless!
TW Bright
