Reflections...

So, it will be a week tomorrow since we have arrived home from Jackson. Everyday since then I have been thinking about all the things we experienced and took in. I feel as though each and every person that went on this trip has taught me something different about myself and I want to thank them for that. God is definitely at work in me and I'm sure each person has been significantly changed or their eyes have been opened to something they have never seen before. I have to be completely honest with you...it's been really hard for me to open up and tell people about the deep conversations we had in Jackson and the intense experiences we shared together because I feel as though no one can fully understand what I'm talking about unless they have experienced it for themselves, but the thing is I can at least try. It's just like a lesson I learned while on the trip, "do hard things." I realized as a Christ follower God will call me to do hard things. Being obedient to God comes with a cost, sometimes i'll have to sacrifice something I might not want too. Being in Jackson made me realize how good we have it here in California and how blind we are to the realities of injustice--social injustice as well as racial injustice. Now that I've been made aware of what's going on, I can't be silent and I can't sit still. It's my responsibility to help make a change and stand for justice. But I can't do it alone, I need Jesus to help me. I don't know exactly where to start but I know getting the community here and in our school active in being aware of their own injustice against others is just the first step to a better tomorrow. Our actions are a reflection of our heart and what's on in our heart. John Perkins told us, "Take your light of love and shine it in the world."

Zechariah 8 (The Message)

Rebuilding the Temple

1-2 And then these Messages from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: "I am zealous for (Jackson)—I care!
I'm angry about (Jackson)—I'm involved!"

God's Message:

3"I've come back to (Jackson),
I've moved back to (Jackson).
(Jackson's) new names will be Truth City,
and Mountain of God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
and Mount Holiness."

4-5A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

"Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in."

6A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

"Do the problems of returning and rebuilding by just a few survivors seem too much? But is anything too much for me? Not if I have my say."

7-8A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

"I'll collect my people from countries to the east and countries to the west. I'll bring them back and move them into (Jackson). They'll be my people and I'll be their God. I'll stick with them and do right by them."

9-10A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

"Get a grip on things. Hold tight, you who are listening to what I say through the preaching of the prophets. The Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies has been reestablished. The Temple is being rebuilt. We've come through a hard time: You worked for a pittance and were lucky to get that; the streets were dangerous; you could never let down your guard; I had turned the world into an armed camp.

11-12"But things have changed. I'm taking the side of my core of surviving people:

Sowing and harvesting will resume,
Vines will grow grapes,
Gardens will flourish,
Dew and rain will make everything green.

12-13"My core survivors will get everything they need—and more. You've gotten a reputation as a bad-news people, you people of Judah and Israel, but I'm coming to save you. From now on, you're the good-news people. Don't be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I'm doing."

~KATE MATTHEWS