24 - Sep - 2009
29 - Aug - 2009
How love defeated the KKK
When we talk about loving our neighbors, it’s always easy to love folks who like us and love us back. And yet on the flipside, it’s just as easy to make excuses as to why we don’t need to love those who have treated us wrong, or hurt us.
But imagine showing love to a group bent on bringing harm to you, your family and your friends — simply because of the color of your skin.
The civil rights movement in America can teach us a lot about loving our neighbor — and loving our enemies.
“The black freedom struggle is the best example of bringing together the quest for unarmed truth and unconditional love in the face of American Terrorism for 400 years. Instead of a Black al-Qaeda you get Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther.” – Dr Cornel West
Kevin Hendricks shares an even more personal look at how love defeated the KKK through one Rev. Wade Watts.
When Oklahoma State Sen. Gene Stipe and civil rights activist Wade Watts walked into a restaurant in the late 1950s, a waitress confronted them at the door and told Watts, an African American, that the restaurant did not serve Negroes.
With a smile, Watts replied, “I don’t eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs.”
And as Kevin writes, that’s tame compared to Watts’ reactions to Clary as detailed in this video:
May we all have the power to love in the face of adversity. May we all have the courage to face our enemies with a smile and love. May we give sacrificial love to everyone within our sphere of influence. And may our lives exhibit the love that has changed our lives — so that it may change the lives of others as well.
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02 - Jul - 2009
We get to carry each other
Date: 02 July, 2009 | Posted By: Jonathan Blundell | Category: Faith, Reflection
I’m reading the new book “We Get to Carry Each Other – The Gospel According to U2″ (by Greg Garrett) right now and it talks a lot about community and how the band has always emphasized helping those around us and the privilege we have to actually GET to carry each other. Yet for some reason we seem to think its a burden to build community, to open up to others, to share and serve.
How different our outlook and lives could be if we saw serving and loving others is actually a privilege – a calling – a purpose in our lives…
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17 - Jun - 2009
Changing my mind about non-violence
Date: 17 June, 2009 | Posted By: Jonathan Blundell | Category: Reflection
In recent years I’ve become more and more of a pacifist and a much stronger voice for non-violence. I know in many circles that’s often scoffed at. I’m OK with that, its not the most popular stance a person can take.
But then I read Eugene Cho’s blog post today about Fatima bint Mohamed bin Uthman Al-Mutairi.
Fatima was a 26-year-old Saudi woman who was killed by her own brother in August 2008 simply because she followed Jesus Christ.
Eugene shared Fatima’s story as a parallel to the life of Paul – who was vilified, imprisoned and hated because he was a “traitor to his people, the Jews.”
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15 - Jun - 2009
you matter!
Date: 15 June, 2009 | Posted By: Jonathan Blundell | Category: Reflection
Seth Godin shares ::
- When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
- When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
- When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
- When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
- When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
- When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
- When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
- When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
- When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
- When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
- And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.
And above all else – you matter to a God who loves you more than you could ever imagine! No matter what you do, what you’ve done or what you’re going to do –
He loves YOU!
Brennan Manning writes:
“For His love is never, never, never based on our performance, never conditioned by our moods — of elation or depression. The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. It is reliable. And always tender.”
He loves YOU!
(And so do we.)
