Thursday, May 19, 2011

victory

"Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory." ~ I Corinthians 15:54 
 
my cousin Michael has seen his victory...we love him so much, and yet we know that he is safe, healed and whole in the arms of a God who loves him even more...he and his uncle roy, my daddy, will always have front row seats for their Tarheels

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

BOOK WEEK!

it's national children's book week! READ WITH YOUR KIDS TODAY...and EVERY DAY!

check the site, and with your local library or bookstore, for events in your area...or have an event of your own! http://www.bookweekonline.com/

"children are made readers on the laps of their parents."~emilie buchwald

a note about the "quote" gone viral

just FYI for myself, and anyone else who may have posted the popular MLK Jr "quote" that has been all over the net in light of the past few days...you might want to read this...
i came across the quote and it seemed to sum up all of the mixed emotions that i was having, so I did a little copy/paste...i like to post quotes, verses, etc that have challenged, convicted and moved me...and this was certainly one of those...here it is, for those of you wondering:
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

soooo...i actually have a book of his speeches and writings, that I turn to often...but, in this case, I must admit, I didn't do my fact-checking, being that I recognized the quote(PART of the quote...MY BAD)
after scouring my book this morning, and doing some web searching, i found this article, which helps to explain what happened.

so, while the first part of this "quote" is a good sentiment(and obviously resounded with people, hence the "like wildfire" spreading across the net)...it seems as though the thought was posted by someone with the Dr King quote below it and then...through the telephone game that is social media and the not-so-exact science of cutting and pasting...the rest is misquoting history...
and this is only a theory, but I know that two of the scriptures that I kept coming back to in the last few days was Ezekiel 33:11, and it sounds very similar to what this girl posted...possible where she was coming from on it:

"Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live"

Another verse that came to my mind was: "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them. Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked, for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out." ~Proverbs 24:17-20

I think the reason that verses like these struck a chord within me was in the way I felt immediately humbled, as if i was realizing all over again what a precious and undeserved gift my salvation is, and how easily that could have been my eternity

going back to the MLK book...I find the actual quote still appropriate and convicting
here it is in it's entirety: "Are we seeking power for power’s sake? Or are we seeking to make the world and our nation better places to live. If we seek the latter, violence can never provide the answer. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love do that."

i do not like to misquote anyone...especially someone like Dr King, who I have so much respect for and whose words I would never want to twist...I never like it when people just spout things off with nothing to back them up...don't want to be that guy :) so, my bad(along with the thousands of others across the web)so, just wanted to get that info out there...although I'm sure you've already read about it...on the internet!

more than anything, i am so in awe of the men and women who have made, and continue to make, sacrifices every day for us all...great men, like my daddy and my brother-in-law...
i know that, as long as we are on this earth, there will be evil...i know that we serve a God who is both just and merciful..and, in the words of john lennon,'you may say I'm a dreamer'...but, I pray that each day, we are a step closer to peace and a realization of the radical love we're called to...praise God that, no matter what, He is always on His throne and Lord come quickly