Me, Jesus, a Beer and a Cigar

Bob Dickinson is a veteran media and
business development executive who has written corporately for various sports
and entertainment companies. Since 2015, he has operated his own business
development firm with a penchant for advocacy, as well as a foundation that
focuses on STEAM education and sports. In 2020-21, he authored the Jeremiah
James weekly blog and periodically contributed to Like the Dew: A Journal of
Progressive Southern Culture and Politics. He is active in various
faith-based ministries, including One Race and Bridging the Gap. Dickinson
lives in the greater Atlanta area. He is currently working on a book of
political allegory short stories and a play.
We all fight for normalcy-or whatever
we believe that is. We seek it. We long for it. But we often can't define it.
In Me, Jesus, a Beer, and a Cigar, Dickinson indicates that we may not
be asking the right questions or even thinking the correct thoughts. Perhaps
abnormal is a better direction-depending again on how one defines it.
With a backdrop of a pandemic, the
George Floyd murder, and an incredibly divisive political climate, Dickinson
shares thoughts for everyday living that are designed to shake the normalcy of
Christians, non-Christians and fence-sitters.
The thoughts present situations often
in a starkly different way than many choose to view life, not to mention how
they view their own faith and Christianity: Why taking a knee during the
national anthem to say a prayer may honor the flag and not desecrate it; how a young
man growing up in the projects falls into a scenario that forces a conservative
White family to question the taboo of abortion; and how reaching out to a
family in need at Christmas may not be the perfect answer for joyful giving.
Sit back. Prepare for the abnormal.
Prepare to be uncomfortable.