The Blind Side
We recently saw the movie The Blind Side. My son was probably too young to see it, but we took him anyway. The blind side is the side in football that the quaterback’s back faces when he drops back to pass. He doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head, so it is called the blind side.
The movie had a huge impact on my son Jordan who is now seven years old. Big Mike, the star in the movie, was from the hood. Big Mike’s mom lived a tough life in the hood. Jordan connected with Big Mike. Being black and being adopted by a white family was the first way Jordan connected. The second way was when Big Mike went back to find his mom in the hood.
When Big Mike went back to the hood, my son Jordan gained a better understanding of the hood. He begin to put a face with true poverty and true danger that exist there. It stirred lots of emotion in Jordan, because he realized his roots are there.
After the movie, Jordan begin to ask questions about the hood. The questions eventually lead to him asking questions about his birth mom Jessica. Jordan wanted to know that his birth mom was safe, and the area she was living in was safe.
It’s been a while since we have seen the movie, but Jordan still longs to know that his birth mom is ok, and the area she lives in is safe. He has lots of questions about the hood, and we do our best to answer them.
Abba Java was created to help orphans, specifically orphans in Zambia, where our daughter Gracie is from. Since the movie “The Blind Side”, we have been blind sided by Jordan’s unquenchable passion to see his birth mom’s community taken care of. So we have decided to create a domestic connection to the underpriveladged kids of North Nashville. We are going to use Abba Java to help orphans in Zambia and underpriveledged kids in North Nashiville.
We are going to partner with an organinzation called T.A.P. We are going to work with young children, and train the older kids in our coffee shop to be baristas. A young adult who has been trained to be a braista can go anywhere in the wolrd and get a job in a coffee shop.
Blind sides in football can be dangerous! Blind sides in life can be dangerous as well, unless it is God who is doing the blitzing! May we be open to His will, and be obedient to His calling!! May our vision be His vision, and may we be close enough to Him to hear his voice and respond to his call and stay on His path.
