Happy MLK Day!

Tim took the day off and we are having a black history movie marathon! Actually, the kids were getting stir crazy so they are on a two hour intermission to run off some energy.

Here's the line up:

Glory Road
Pride
Keep the Faith, Baby
Remember the Titans
Antwone Fisher (not for the kids)
Crash (also, not for the kids)

Basically, I tried to pick PG movies that paint a picture of life during the height of the Civil Rights movement; movies that highlight the power of reconciliation, equality, and the lives of those who endured injustice on many different levels. We have lots of discussion about how life would have been different for all of us just 30-40 years ago; how we wouldn't have been able to sit in the same restaurant together much less in the same home as a family (and friends -a couple of the neighborhood crew joined us.) And on the eve of the inauguration celebration, it's very moving to see how far we've come while still knowing how far we have to go.

I remember a time when I was very young that someone made this statement in front of me, regarding MLK Day, "Just another dead nigger." (you have no idea how painful and unnatural it is to write that.) Even as a child I felt personally injured by what I had heard. It stung my heart but I had neither the words nor the understanding to articulate why. I have both now. And I believe it was because the Holy Spirit in me knew the truth; that the Civil Rights Movement, the equality of all men, the just treatment of every person was not the brain child of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Adam Clayton Powell, or Malcolm X, or Abraham Lincoln for that matter. They were all just mere men whose faults can be easily pointed out and used to discredit their passions by those who desire to do so. It was, however; it is the heart of a humble carpenter who gave His life as the ransom for ALL people --and in Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.

I could write a mini-series but I won't...

today.


Have a great night!