Monday, January 21, 2013

Martin Luther King Day

celebrate the great man
& the fact that we have the freedom to do so
Martin Luther King Jr
he fought the good fight
he held a dream
our world is a different place because of his conviction & faith
(we still have a long way to go hey!)
 going on 3 years ago
the 3 of us left on a plane for the usa
a visit to determine "if" we were up for a move across the pacific for a while
to Atlanta, Georgia
we thought we'd give it all a go
but it turned out God had different ideas ....
we had 2 Sundays ... on this whirl wind visit
so we decided we'd go to a different Church on each
the first one was a mega church .... actually mega mega ...
no one even said hello .... yep! sad really ...
the other .... well the goal was to go to
the Ebenezer Baptist Church
where MLK sr & jr had been pastors
we were there for that 7.45am service!
it was the early service or none as we were on a flight at lunch time!
only as you can see by the sign
... it was the 124th Church Anniversary!
instead they had combined service at 10am .... shame ...
 so what to do when you've got going at such an early hour?
with a not yet 2 year old ??
dejected we drove away .....
.... hey lots of black americans with hats on (we love hats!)
.... walking ... somewhere?
where are they going .....?
follow ... park .... ask ....
ooooh ... Church ... not where we'd intended to go but you know ....
"Big Bethal" .... just down the road
.... seriously one of the most amazing services
we have been to EVER ....
i was in tears with feeling 'the love'
EVERY single person in that building hugged & shook
all our hands .... & pinched Oscar's cheeks
& that all happened in the middle of the service!
the music & singing was sensational
i say 'brother, sister' that's what's i'm talking about!

but we have really fond memories of this city of the south
(should i mention i spotted Michael Jordon ... 
actually i was so close i could have given him a hug ... 
but i think his cavalry would have jumped on me!!)

we also visited the 
MLK jr National Historic Site
.... this photo of Oscar standing side by side this great man
is a true favourite of mine
 
Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr:

 “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."

“No person has the right to rain on your dreams.” 

 “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” 

 photos around the historic center
 & Ebenezer Baptist Church ....
where across the road there now stands a much larger place of worship

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”  

Martin Luther King Jr



3 comments:

Karen said...

Welcome back :-)
What an amazing experience - it sounds like something in a movie - and exactly what your worship experience should have been about - welcome and kindness shown to you.
Look at that gorgeous blonde tot!!

Bronwyn said...

I remember finding one of his books at my school library 'Strength to Love' and being so taken with his words. I had never read anything like him and would carry the book with me to pull out and rereadIng snippets over and over to my friends much to their annoyance! I would love to visit his place!

Cath said...

Wow...that experience sounds truly amazing! I love your new skirt...and your free-wheeling sewing approach. Seeing you quilt straight from your scrap box at craft one night made me think I could get into this 'quilting thing'. Thanks for being my inspiration. C xxx