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.