DEEP WATERS

As I watched news footage of Michael Jackson's family arriving at the courthouse where Dr. Conrad Murray begins his trial for involuntary manslaughter of the late music icon, my heart nearly burst from my chest. I knew I had to write about this. So today I'm posting my second blog of the day, something I've never done before. Let me begin, first of all, with saying what this post will not be. It will not be a theological discussion of where Michael Jackson went when he passed away. I choose not to do God's job of determining the condition of another person's spiritual state. I personally think God does a great job of that all by Himself. (Although, can you just imagine the beauty of Michael Jackson's music in heaven? And the moonwalk on those streets of gold? Amazing...) I also have no intention of discussing the "reality television" buzz of who's who at the trial. I've heard huge names mentioned of people that will take the witness stand...

Many months ago, in My Little Chocolate Russian , I blogged about my son Christian that my husband Anthony and I adopted from Russia in 2003. This coming December, the story of how we all became a family post-adoption will be published in a national publication. But you'll have to wait for more details on that! Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm passionate about caring for orphans. And I don't think I'm anything special for that. I've simply taken God at His Word. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27 And I've also taken the other forty-some scriptures about believers caring for the fatherless literally too. I'm just taking God's Word at face value. When He says we must care for orphans, I believe He means that we must care for orphans. Pretty simple stuff to me. You may be asking, what ...

Thursday morning God woke me up early. Now anyone who knows me well knows that I don't like to wake up early in the morning. No sir. I'm what they call a night person. If I had it my way, I'd stay up late every night reading, writing and brainstorming my latest grand idea (or not-so-grand idea). And in the morning I'd sleep as long as I wanted. That's my dream schedule. And then there's reality... The reality of having four children, three of which go to school Monday through Friday. The reality of the school system being so rigid that they won't let me, one mother of thousands, choose what time school should start. So I'm up early in the morning, making sure everyone has their lunch, their homework and their underwear. (Fortunately, no one's forgotten the latter so far!) Needless to say, I'm not the kind of person that wants to get up any earlier in the morning than I have to. But Thursday morning God woke me up early -- or earlier, I s...

Yesterday, I took my husband's mother and grandmother to visit the Little Rock Central High School Historic Site . In my September 13th blog post, A Modern-Day Civil Rights Hero , I briefly discussed the legendary Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka . This historic U.S. Supreme Court decision to segregate public schools was first put to the test on the morning of September 23, 1957, when nine brave African American students -- with heads held high and hearts pounding -- walked through an angry mob of protesters and entered the doors of Little Rock High School for the first time. In the year I've lived in Arkansas, I've visited Central High School at least five times and the museum at least four. Each time I walk away with a different prevailing theme. Yesterday was no exception. This museum, free to visitors, boasts historical facts, live videos, photos and famous quotes from that era. As a writer, I love the quotes, and yesterday one in particular really stood out to...

This past Wednesday I had coffee with Dennis Rainey, founder of Family Life Ministries, here in Little Rock, Arkansas. Okay, there's one small caveat. I, along with about forty other area church leaders, had breakfast with Dennis Rainey yesterday. We were attending a Pastor's Summit hosted by  The CALL (Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime), a foster care initiative with the vision of placing each and every foster child in Arkansas in a loving home. Having recently joined the statewide board of The CALL, I am thrilled to join this awesome mission. If you've been following my blog, you know I've been seriously contemplating the mission of my life. Why am I here? What is my higher purpose on earth? When I leave this world to go spend eternity with God, what work do I want to have completed? As I've stated in previous posts, I keep coming back to social justice. I want to fight for the rights of the underprivileged, the disenfranchised, the forgotten. But...

In Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court declared separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. That was 1954. In 2011, one courageous lady has made Civil Rights history. Her cause would make the thirteen parents that filed the law suit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas proud. In a moment I'll provide the link to this wonderful story. But first I'll give a little backstory. In May of this year, I was chatting with my mother by phone. She began telling me about a new friend of hers that had a trip scheduled to Arkansas that week. That friend, Treopia Green Washington, happens to be the sister of Ernest Green of the historical Little Rock Nine . She was returning to her home state of Arkansas to attend the commencement ceremony of the University of Arkansas, where her mother had received a master's degree in education. Unfortunately, Treopia's mother wasn't allowed to attend her own commencement ba...

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the massive terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, I thought I'd be remiss to not pay tribute to the thousands of men and women, boys and girls that lost their lives that day. On one hand I can hardly believe it has been ten years since that fateful day. On the other hand, it feels like a mere mist of a memory -- something that happened eons ago. A decade later I can still vividly remember what I was doing on that day. Not yet born when President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated, I don't have any memories of what my parents often discussed. I'd hear them say, "I'll never forget where I was when I heard President Kennedy was killed," and "I can distinctly remember what I was doing when Dr. King was murdered." Prior to 9/11, I didn't have any memories like these. I do now. In January 2001, Anthony and I moved to Franklin, Tennessee for him to join th...

I hope you have enjoyed my posts about that wonderful book and film The Help . I truly thank my three friends that strongly encouraged me to write those posts. It was a God-thing. The way I figure it -- when everyone's talking about the same thing, the Church should be too. And that's where I'm taking this blog for the next few weeks or so. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. I'm treading out on some thin ice of the unknown, and it's a bit scary. I can vaguely see the green grass of the other side of the pond, but I don't know exactly what's going to happen between here and there. I hope you'll hang in there with me as I take a walk across. As a matter of fact, I hope you'll walk with me. Before I begin my new series of world-changing people, I'd like to share what God's been doing in my life lately. A lot of life has happened since my  31 Days of Purpose series, and it feels like I wrote those posts a year ago. It's funny, I expect...

Okay, okay. I know I promised to turn a corner here on Sojourner of Truth, but I'm feeling like I've left a huge stone unturned. There's some unfinished business that I'm needing to tend to. So hang with me here, and I promise that soon and very soon I will begin my next series of blogs about people that have, and continue to, change the world. On Thursday my husband Anthony and I had the privilege of participating in an online discussion of The Help with our directional pastor of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, Mark DeYmaz. A leader in the multi-ethnic church movement, Mark discusses issues of race and the church every Thursday at noon CST through Mosaix, a network of church leaders in pursuit of a multi-ethnic church for the sake of the gospel. (Click  here to listen to this program) It was fast-paced, exhilarating -- and a little unnerving in the beginning -- to be perfectly honest. But I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and our discussion brought up a lot ...