Over the past several weeks, I have been analyzing my own journey on thing called racism. I remember watching the Civil Rights March in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about his dream. To paraphrase what he said, people of color have been on a journey since leaving Africa; it was always in the shadow of death, always in the shadows of rat-infested dungeons of slave ships. Many did not survive this journey to the, hopefully, new land…..
Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He is the Messiah and the Son of the living God. God revealed these things to me from my first breath as a baby in a 6-room coal miner’s hospital in Frostburg, Maryland through today as I sit at my dining room table writing this blog in Shawano, Wisconsin. We are surrounded by the awesome power of God, and His Son abides in everything I do. When Jesus spoke to Peter in Matthew…..
God of all peoples, stretch your arms out to embrace all the children of this troubled world. As your children, grant us your abundant hope, grace, and peace. Teach us to love one another with constant compassion and love. Forgive us, Lord, when we let the policies of our government overshadow Your will for our nation. As your disciples, help us to take Your name throughout the entire world, so that all may know the love of Your Son, Jesus…..
I am often reminded of the Biblical story of Jesus and His disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had dismissed the crowds that had come to hear Him preach; afterwards, He went up into the hills to pray by himself. When He arrived back at the shore the next morning, the boat was being battered by huge waves, and the ferocious winds kept pushing the boat further out to sea. Seeing Jesus walk on the water, the disciples cried…..
I live in a small town in Wisconsin. Last week, our governor instituted a mandatory mask law for wearing masks in crowded areas, public buildings, schools, restaurants, and stores. The pandemic stats for my county are 168 positive cases, for my state 61,545 positive cases, and for the country 4.86 million positive cases. 159,oo0 people have died from this disease across our country. An incident occurred in the only traditional grocery store we have in the town; it has left…..
Christ feeds us abundantly with a love beyond any human love. All we have to do is trust and believe in Him. It is sometimes hard to let God take care of us. We try to take care of matters ourselves because we feel that our experiences have placed an enormous responsibility on our shoulders to take care of ourselves, our children, and our families. For most people, belief in Christ comes slowly, particularly for those of us who have…..
John Lewis was buried today in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a hero, a person who stood up for equal rights in our country, even to the point of his own personal harm on a bridge in Selma, Alabama in the 1960’s. While he was being acclaimed in a memorial service at his home church, the small man in the White House did not think it was important enough to attend his service, let alone send his condolences. What was this…..
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3: 5-6) I thought I would never say this about America; we are not putting God first in any of our present problems, in particular our troubling issues with racism. We are failing “big time” with each other’s rights and feelings. Just as most of the white population has been able to…..
It’s a beautiful day outside, but, with my music on, I’m feeling memories of losses. With so much loss in our society today, I can put myself in the shoes of all who have lost children, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and friends due to a disease we can’t seem to control either by our own denial that it exists or the government’s mismanagement and the birth of a new civil rights movement that’s trying to…..
As I was waiting patiently for my website to be restored to full function last week, I watched two movies: “Gods and Generals” and “Gettysburg.” Looking at the country’s systemic racism spilling out into the streets today, we, as a nation, have yet to recover from the cause of the Civil War…slavery. Compromises were made in our Congress before that conflict happened. The Southern states were allowed to have slaves, to have militias to protect slave owners, and to use…..