Atlanta. Day 5.
Some people have said that my blog was kinda boring. Completely understandable. Some of it is a school project; feel free to skim over the marketing/designing stuff if you’re not interested in that. But today had nothing to do with either, really, so maybe you’ll find this entry more interesting.
Jeff had a meeting at the Catalyst office today, so I was on my own for the morning. He recommended that I make a trip to the center of the city to see the King Center on historic Auburn Ave., and that’s just what I did. The area around Auburn is very vibrant - a mixed-income neighborhood undergoing revitalization, bringing in people from all different walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds and races. I enjoyed walking around the district - called the Old 4th Ward. It was very awe-inspiring to walk the streets that Martin Luther King Jr. walked - I saw the home where he was born and the church where he preached his socially revolutionary sermons. I even saw the tomb where he was buried and the eternal flame commemorating his life. Inside the King Center, I visited the Rosa Parks Room, the Gandhi Room, and the King Room. I never knew how much MLK drew from Gandhi. Both of them were such great leaders, and yet I was looking at articles of clothing that they wore and the shoes that they wore in their marches. Looking at their shoes, I thought to myself about how many miles those worn boots and sandals trudged through to cause the wheels of revolution to move. But those men were willing to do it because they believed in their causes with unwavering faith.
I hope that someone someday would look at a pair of my shoes and see worn-down, beat-up sneakers that are evidence of the fact that I would march as far as it would take for something I believe in to come to pass.
Outside of the King Center I met a man named Michael. He was homeless, and was wanting to sell me some newspaper literature for a homeless worship ministry that he said he worked with. I gave him several dollars to support the ministry (and no I am not so naive as to think that he didn’t just pocket the money for his own personal use; but, quite frankly, I do not care how Jesus - the least of these - chooses to spend his money. I will give it regardless.) Besides, Michael had on a shirt that said, “Angels need rest too,” with a little angel leaning into a teddy bear and I figure that this guy - who is ministering truth to me in his poverty - deserves a “rest,” even if it is just monetarily. When I gave him the money, I apologized for it not being much. He just smiled and said, “Don’t you know the story about that woman? The Lord said that she just gave one penny, but she would be greatly blessed for it.” Michael said, “God bless you, man.” And I said, “He has already.” To this, he replied, “That is so, so true. He blesses me too. See I’m a spiritual man. I love to talk about these things.” We chatted a little while longer and then parted ways.
God, bless Michael today. Because angels - which the Bible defines as beings who minister to us - need rest too.
I spent most of the rest of the day finishing the marketing book that Jeff assigned me in a coffee shop there in the 4th Ward called Danneman’s (Michael recommended it to me). The book makes a lot of great points about marketing, which I said I wasn’t going to talk about in this, so I’ll stop there, but it also makes a lot of great points about life that perfectly tie into what I saw at the King Center in the morning - that if you really want to succeed at something, you have to have a cause, a belief, a faith that you stand behind 100%, even in the face of criticism; and when you have a faith that solid in something, it will attract others to follow after you. I think that’s evidenced in the lives of Gandhi and MLK - how much more so in Jesus Himself too. And so that’s the inspiration that I’m taking away from the day: if I want to see something change for the better, I’ve got to be willing to go through any thing and everything to see my faith succeed. When I was talking about this concept later with Jeff, he commented that once a person who has done all that they can to further what they believe in - what their life was specifically given to them and crafted to accomplish in this world - then he or she dies. Gandhi, MLK, and Jesus were all assassinated because they had all started movements that made things better. And once they had accomplished their mission, it was their time to go. Which means that everyday that God gives me - if I wake up again tomorrow - it means that I have not accomplished my mission and that there is work to be done. When it is finished, I’ll go home; but not yet.
