Often times we go through our days in survival modes. We look at our calendars; answer our messages and emails so that we can get things done. By the time our lists are finished we look at the clock and the day we once had is now gone. What do we do? We get ready for the next day. Lets face it…life happens and we don’t have the option of hitting the pause button. Think back for moment…doesn’t Christmas seem so long ago now?

This is why I love days like Dr. Martin Luther King day. Days that we as a nation set aside to help us remember. Remember the sacrifices and lives of those who have gone before us. The trailblazers and pioneers who were willing to risk their days and lives for something they believed in. Willing to risk their lives for something that was truly bigger than them. Today is one of those days.

Dr. Martin Luther King day is a day that we as a nation recognize the life of one who was taken violently because there were those who believed foolishly that separation and division was the way God intended for us to live. Their belief, no matter how ridiculous it was, had a voice that at Dr. King’s time was both loud and strong and was believed by many. I can’t speak for that generation of why they believed that but I know many who adopted those racists and bigoted views claimed they were biblical…these perverted thoughts I can and will speak to.

To say that their desire to be separate and divided and say that was the way God intended is not only heresy and so far from the truth but goes against everything Jesus Christ died for. Jesus prayed to the Father these words just before He demonstrated the greatest act of love this world has ever seen.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be ONE, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be in US, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20-21

God gave Dr. Martin Luther King his dream. It was a dream of a life and a world (not just a nation) the way God has always intended for it to be…ONE. A world that isn’t divided and separate but loves, forgives, unites and gives glory to the One who created it.

This is why I think today is a day we shouldn’t just glance over or check off. It is a day that we must stop, reflect, and remember. Not just Dr. King. Remember the Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Little Rock Nine, Ella Baker, Vivian Malone Jones, Bayard Rustin, James L Farmer Jr. and so many more. Take the time to read and learn whom these people are and what they did to take a stand. Pass on what you have seen and learned. Be honest and open with yourself and others. Confess and repent if you had or still hold onto prejudices and ask God to continue to reveal to you areas you have yet to identify.