A friend came to me and said, “You’re overdue for a post.” Yikes! We are already halfway through the first month of the second year in the second decade of the third millennium since the shift from BC to AD. Where have I been?

For the most part, I have been on a hill of privilege. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not dining on caviar every day or being shuttled about by drivers and managers. Yet, I am the product of affluence and privilege. I was born into the majority race at a time when the US was in its quest to be the first country to land a man on the moon. I watched Delta wing fighters fly circles around my community practicing “touch-and-go” landings at a Naval Air Station in the heart of our community (while a war was fought on the other side of the world). I have only vague memories living my first four years in a townhouse in the City of Chicago before my parents decided to move us to the suburbs to ensure a better shot at this American Dream. There was only one period in my life that I can remember not having enough food on hand to eat (and even that was a choice lasting a relatively short time). And yet, while I see the hills that loom above my own, my heart and eyes are pulled to those whose current state has them in valleys or elevations below sea level.

I believe that we are all privileged in some way. Yet, privilege is a continuum of sorts. I am reminded of a billboard on Highway 64 leading up to Highlands, NC which stated, “At some point we ALL live downstream.” With this metaphor of running water and elevation, I invite you into this conversation on how to best leverage our privilege. I have been thinking about this topic a lot over the last five years. Yet, I was prompted to do this in a more public way by 1) my dear friend, and 2) the words of Pastor Harvey Carey as he told a story of how his church in Detroit, Michigan was providing toilet paper to a local public school at the January 15, 2011 Willow Creek Community Church service. When I think of all the toilet paper that adorns trees as a form of celebration (or vandalism – depending on one’s perspective) it certainly shows that despite the elevation of the hill, it is important to recognize the need that exists at all elevations and to live in preparation to make level this playing field of life.

Stay tuned . . .