Awesome News and More of the Haps

Well, it's official: I have a place to live!!!!! If you are at all confused about this, let me explain. For the last few months I have been trying to find housing in the Wheaton area, but have not really had much luck because I've wanted to live with a family so I could save my money. Several people have helped a ton, specifically Matt and Kelly Erickson and Mickie Keil, for they had contacts in the area. I am grateful for your help. I got an email on Wednesday morning from an amazing woman named Maggie Rowe, telling me she had found a place. Her husband is the pastor of a church called First Baptist in Wheaton and they are long time friends of the Keil family. Maggie had asked a couple, Rich and Barb Kolton, about a month and a half ago if they would be interested in housing me, but they told her it would be too soon after their son's death, who would be about my age. However, on Wednesday morning, Barb she called Wednesday morning to say that God has been at work, and they want to have me if I didn't yet have a place.

Amazing!!!! I, and so many others, have been praying for months in confidence that God would provide a place and He has. And not just a place, but a family. They have a college aged daughter who attend Northwestern in Minnesota who knows Lauren quite well, and the best part, they have a DOG!!!! I am excited. Thank you so much for all of you that were so diligently praying. God is so good.

On a different note, yesterday was my day off, which was great to have. Lauren and Cherilyn took the day and spent it at the mall, getting pedicures, shopping, and refueling their girly styles. I'm glad they got to spend it together and have such a fun time. They invited me to join them, but I had to decline. Tempting, but no. I had other plans. I hopped back in the van after dropping them off and headed to the National Civil Rights Museum, located several blocks away from Beale St. in downtown Memphis. The museum is actually on the site of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It was a moving experience to say the least. I stood in front of the motel, quietly conversing with God, wondering why it was that He allowed a man like this to die so young. I know his death helped to spread the movement, but is a martyr always needed to further the cause? Is blood always a requirement for change? Yes. It was. But I wish I could have seen Dr. King speak, stood there as he spread his words of love to a hate filled world, or marched through the streets with him as sweat poured down my face and voices of death screamed obscenities at us. I wish I could have done these acts of great love, for in that man, through his actions, the presence of Christ was so clear. Dr. King truly understood Christ's call for us to love our enemies, for he knew that in a response filled with violence and hate, nothing good would be accomplished. The streets of Memphis and every other large urban space in America is filled with gangs like the Bloods and the Crips, direct descendants of movements like the Black Panthers. They are polluting our youth and tearing our society apart from within. It is always easier to hate. It is always easier to throw a punch than lend a hand. But it is never better. Dr. King knew this. He payed for it with his life. But so did Jesus. Dr. King knew this as well. And someday I'll get to stand alongside him and we will share meals and laugh and love. And that is better than anything.