Followers

Monday, September 26, 2016

AVERY HEAVY HEART and a REQUEST that you SHARE this.

I was born in the 1950's and grew up in the 60's when the Civil Rights movement really became a focus once again.

I was never aware that I had so many advantages being born white in America.
I have never been looked down on because of the color of my skin. I have never been pulled over because I am a white woman who "looks suspicious".

I grew up where Negroes (as the African-Americans were called then) were a part of my life.
The foreman on my father's construction company was to a young girl, the biggest man she had ever seen with the largest hands imaginable. I didn't know he was different. We had a Black housekeeper, who when my mother died, we had to beg her to quit working and sit down and be with us.

I remember watching the news when James Meredith wanted to enroll at the University of Mississippi and had to have the US Marshall accompany him, so that he would be the first Black admitted to a university in the south-ever. I remember last year being at Ole Miss, requesting my friends to take me to the administration building where it all started, and saw with pride the statue of James Meredith on the Ole Miss campus.

I remember being at my grandmother's beach house when the Watts Riots started. I remember asking why this was happening. I just didn't understand as a ten year old what would cause this.
I remember when Martin Luther King Jr was murdered. I was a sopohmore in high school and I marched in downtown Palo Alto with my friend Nancy. I was devastated that a man who wanted to promote racial reconciliation was gunned down by a white man.

I remember my father building two apartment complexes in East Palo Alto for the Black people at an affordable price in the 1960's.

I imagine I have always been a civil rights advocate in my own life.

As a follower of Christ, I believe firmly that God has created all men (and women) equal. That we have no color in His eyes; that He sees us just as His children. And yet for the past year, my soul- the deepest part of me that is true, has been at unrest at the racism in our country.
For the past 3 months I have been with such a heavy heart of what has transpired in our country.
I began praying everyday for racism to be obliterated. I have been asking God what I could do. What can I, a white woman in my 60's who lives in the middle of nowhere (seriously, I live one hour away from the 3 closest towns) can do.

I came to the realization that politics won't fix our problem. That communities can do what they can, but will it only be for their particular city.
Only the Church of Jesus Christ can begin the process of reconciliation in our country.
Do you know that as of today (September 26th) that 703 people have been documented deaths by police in this year alone? and that 173 Deaths have been Black Americans.
Believe me, I am not condemning our policemen. I like the police; they protect me. I realize that there are good cops who deeply care about the people they protect (they are the overwhelming majority) and there are bad cops as well.

But it TIME WE DO SOMETHING. It is time for the Church in America to lead the change.
This morning I read in a book by Tony Evans, a Black pastor in Dallas, about fasting.
When our prayers don't seem to work or produce the change we need, we need to consider fasting.

I am not famous. I will never be one of the bloggers who has thousands of followers. But I am a woman who follows Christ with all that is me and I want to be obedient. Today, I feel like God has begun to answer my prayer for racial reconciliation.

I am asking you who follow Jesus, to share this post.
I am asking that on Sunday October 9, 2016, Followers of JESUS across the country to fast and pray for the racial tensions to end.
Fasting, according to Evans "is the abstinence from some form of physical gratification, for a period of time, in order to achieve a greater spiritual goal." Tony Evans goes on to say that in fasting, "you deliberately show God that you are serious about getting His attention and that you are intently listening for his voice". When we choose to fast, we choose God and His word over our own physical appetite. We see things with greater clarity when we fast because we are seeking God and His answers , instead of our own. When we fast, we choose intentionally, to come into God's presence for His wisdom.

What if on October 9th, The Black Faith Community joins with the White Faith Community across our country, and we fast together, pleading with God to change the course of what is happening in our country in regards to race. What if we ask heaven to move mountains so that God's purpose is carried out on earth.

What if 53 years later, the end of Martin Luther King's " I have a Dream" speech spoken at our nations capital can begin to come true.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.


I have a dream that we, the followers of Christ can make a difference.
Will you join me On October 9th please?