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| InspirationWe all need reminders from time to time about what we do what we do. I'm often reminded how blessed I am to have done the work I've done in a relatively short time. A constant tension remains about how to have a big picture impact in the work done to improve outcomes for our most precious resource while having a tangible impact on a more local, direct level. Even as I've been able to do this work on bigger stages, I remain unsatisifed. It's still not enough. There's so much more to be done.
I was inspired tonight listening to a high school senior who has grown up in poverty but who has risen above the challenges of his violence- and poverty-stricken neighborhood to succeed. He's currently weighing full scholarship offers from two Ivy League schools. This student implored his fellow students in the program to keep pressing on.
Naysayers will continue to give these children reasons why they can't succeed: their race, their parent's income, the lack of English skills their parents have, incarcerated parents and siblings...the list goes on. But this student said to use the critical voices of the naysayers as motivation to work harder and to achieve more.
I'm not sure he knows how much effect his words had not only on the other students listening, but also on the parents assembled. Their pride leapt from their hearts and beamed across their faces.
I think every day about the massive numbers of children in this country who we continue to fail, the ones who are continuing to fall through gaping holes we euphemistically call the "cracks" in our system. The sheer number of kids who dropout and are consigned to limited lives sometimes keeps me awake at night.
But I'm encouraged when I see people fighting for the very hearts and souls of these kids and placing uncompromising expectations of greatness in front of them. They deserve nothing less from all of us, no matter what role we play in this society.
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| EncouragedYou'd think after so many years I'd have learned to stop doubting my God. He never fails and His wonders never cease.
When the pastor asked B and I last month to call together the young
adults of the church for a meeting, I was skeptical if we could get any
of them to come and if they did, what good would of it. I was uncertain
if the folks on both sides of the table had come to a serious, humble
place where we could really make a go of it.
I'm glad to say I was wrong. My peers who I grew up with, some older,
some younger--showed up in full force tonight to speak their minds and
with a clear sense of commitment to being a part of the solution of
rebuilding our church and creating an atmosphere that is inviting and
inclusive of young adults in a meaningful way.
Hard work remains ahead to really make all this work, but I was so
encouraged to see the church leadership is ready and willing to listen
and that people who had walked away from the church frustrated and
sometimes bitter were willing to give the body another chance and be a
part of the change that would ensure the institution fulfills its
mission and is growing for decades to come.
It won't come easily, but I am excited about the possibilities and
confident God is doing a new thing in this rebirth. As B said, we are
the Ezekiel coming to breathe new life into the dry bones under the
direction and guidance of the Spirit.
I feel more alive as I play a role in bringing my Father's house back
to the way it should be, and there's no more incredible feeling.
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| Witnessing history
I did and saw so much in this past week that it would be impossible to chronicle it all.
I watched a Tony Award-winning dancer perform, interviewed members of Congress, served as a liaison to media crews from across the globe and shook the hand of an eight-time Grammy Award winning songstress.
But none of that compares to what followed on Tuesday.
I got up at 4 that morning and my brother and I drove over to my parents house to meet up with my dad and our extended family around 6:30 for our trek into the city. We hopped on the Metro and began our ride. At each stop along the way, the station platforms were filled with people, many of them cheering and many also wearing a hat, button, or shirt that had Obama's name on it.
When we arrived at L'Enfant Plaza a half an hour later, we weren't prepared for the massive crowd that had come before us. It took more than an hour to make it through the gates and up the long, steep broken escalator to the top. I saw two men carrying a man on their shoulders who normally used a wheelchair, with another carryign the chair up the escalator.
At the top, paramedics greeted people with oxygen and helped pull some people off the escalators.
Once we were in the street, you could see the sidewalk, grass and entire street filled with cheering people. The temperature outisde was about 13 degrees with the wind chill factored in, but no one seemed to feel it, and everyone laughed and cheered each other on as they looked for a place to watch the day's historic event unfold.
We took our place in a packed section near the Washington Monument, and I was astonished as I looked out over the crowd, which was thick and bustling as far as I could see. I've witnessed and participated in many events in Washington, including Ronald Reagan's funeral and the Million Man March. The crowds of those events don't even begin to rival the amount of people who showed up for this inauguration. My fellow Washingtonians later expressed similar amazement to me.
People pushed and shoved their way through the crowds for an attempt at a better angle to see the large Jumbotrons showing the ceremony. The crowd cheered many dignitaries and booed some others, including the outgoing George W. Bush, but were admonished by others in the crowd not to do so.
After what seemed like endless waiting, the crowd erupted when Obama appeared.
And in the moment I will never forget, he approached the stage to meet Chief Justice Roberts. Roberts asked: "Are you ready, Senator?"
With a clear, crisp voice, Obama answered as if he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life.
"Yes I am."
It was in that moment that the whole experience became more real---that the history I'd long laughed off as the impossible was actually happening.
A black man--one named Barack <i> Hussein</I> Obama had just become our 44th president. And he had so inspired a nation that more than 2 million braved the cold to be a part of history with him.
I've had the pleasure of hearing what the50's and 60's were like from civil rights icons, some of whom I know personally. I can only imagine how they felt.
My friend told me after the election he didn't know what it was like to live in an America where something was impossible. I haven't grown up with that luxury, but I believe this election and inauguration has the potential to make that a reality for many Americans for whom it hasn't been until now. Young black and brown boys and girls can say they want to be president someday, and their parents and teachers can enourage them wholeheartedly, knowing these children actually have the chance and inspiration that generations before them didn't.
I think back to Jesse Jackson's comments in April about how when he was at the March on Washington in 1963, dogs had more rights than black people in my hometown. They could stand on the lawn of The White House; he couldn't. And now the occupants of that house are a talented, beautiful and accomplished black couple and their two young girls. Unbelieveable.
It remains to be seen whether President Obama can live up to even a tenth of the hope and confidence that so many Americans have placed in him. But even if he can't, I believe he has already marked his place in history and will have a long-lasting impact as an American Icon who has brought hope and possibility to generations of Americans who thought any chance of having such aspirations was a fool's errand at best.
I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren about the day I watched history unfold. And I pray that they, too, will grow up like my friend in an America where nothing seems impossible and they are confident in the depths of their hearts that they can take hold of all of America's promise.
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| An anniversary of sortsThis is the day seven years ago when I gathered up my suitcases and flew to Lincoln, Nebraska to start a new life.
Funny to think that seven years later I'm back living in the bedroom of my parents' house where I first started that journey. So, so much has changed since then, including stints of varying lengths in Wisconsin, Iowa, Texas and Tennessee.
This week, with my new job, I started yet the next chapter in this adventure. To moving foward!
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| Guess who's back?I have officially been a resident of the East Coast once again for the last 10 and a half hours after a 15.5 hour drive from Memphis yesterday.
The reality hasn't sunk in quite yet and probably won't fully for another week or two--maybe moreso once I start my new job next week.
In any case, I have a feeling this new faith journey will result in more blogging and journaling.
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