A Reason to Sing

On Saturday, we traveled north up to Memphis for the day. After a three hour car ride consisting of snacks and games to keep us entertained, we made our first stop at the Slave Haven, or Jacob Burkle's house. Jacob Burkle left Germany during the German Revolution and moved to Memphis. He bought a huge house so that we he could appear as a slave owner, but he was secretly helping slaves get on the Underground Railroad. The house was filled with secret tunnels and passageways for runaway slaves to enter into the house. We learned about different signs one would find on the Underground Railroad, like quilts hanging from clothes lines or lamps in the windows that would signify whether or not it was safe to travel or not. As we were exploring the house, I started to feel frustrated. Though I am so grateful for people like Jacob Burkle who would put their lives at risk in order to do what's right and just, I started to feel frustrated. Why would God let his children suffer so brutally for so long? If God was just, why did he let oppression, violence, and prejudice plague our world?

When the pieces seem too shattered
To gather off the floor
And all that really matters
Is that I can't feel You anymore
Is that I don't feel You anymore

After our tour at the Slave Haven, we drove down a few blocks to the National Civil Rights History Museum, which was built into the Lorraine Motel, the place where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I became even more astonished, dishearten, and angry. Why would God allow peaceful people asking for justice, equality, and the guarantee of their rights be beaten, attacked, and killed? Martin Luther King Jr. was a peaceful man, who only responded to hate with love. When I was looking into his hotel room and outside onto the balcony where he died, I was overcome by sadness and became disheartened. I couldn't understand why a man who was doing the Lord's will and seeking to further the Kingdom of God was murdered.

I need a reason to sing
I need a reason to sing
I need to know that You're still holding
The whole world in Your hands

I remember learning a story about Martin Luther King Jr. when I was little about how a group of men threw rocks at his windows in his house.

King's friends said to him, "We need to do something. They can't get away with this." It would have been so easy to seek vengeance. If you, your family, and your ancestors had been enslaved, literally or virtually, why wouldn't you want to seek revenge?

King responded to his friends, "We must show love and care to our white brothers."

King's peaceful response toward violence, harassment, and hate reminds me so much of John Perkins. Every day that we've been here, Dr. Perkins tells us that the only way to bring reconciliation to people is to be reconciled to God. We need the truth of the Gospel that sets us free, then we can come together and enter  into each other's pain. We can show compassion to one another. We can listen to one another. We can suffer with them. We can love them.

Will there be a victory?
Will You sing it over me now?
Your peace is the melody
Will You sing it over me now?

Sin will always be in the world. It's been here since the Garden of Eden, and it will be here until Jesus returns. There will always be hate. There will always be prejudice. There will always be violence. But as Dr. Perkins said to us, we need to make the solution bigger than the problem. If we make love louder than the sound of injustice, we will find shalom and righteousness. When we enter into the pain of our brothers and sisters and suffer with them, redemption can begin.

At the end of our touring and we were sitting at the dinner table, I looked around the table surrounded by my team. We had grown so much closer in the past few days. Laughter and smiles were worn all around the table, and there was a spirit of love and community in the air. After a day of sadness and frustration, it was that simple reminder that brought peace and restoration to my soul. This is how the church is supposed to be. Coming together as one body to support, encourage, and edify each other. If we do this, we will see justice. We will see righteous. We will see shalom. We will see love.

"But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream." - Amos 5:24

A good Good Friday

Mic check 1, 2, 1, 2. So I guess I'm in charge of the blog today!
            So this morning started off as all our days here in Jackson will, with devotions. Dr. Perkins spoke of Reconciliation and what that should actually look like. Our solution to racism so far has been to make peace with each other and let  that should fix everything. But we've done that, for the most part, and there's still racism. So where does the issue lie? We need to make peace with GOD first before we can even attempt to make peace with one another. We have to make the solution BIGGER than the problem. We try to make God small and we forget how much He really can do. God is big enough to solve racism. He only created on race- the human race. Dr. Perkins loves to say that one haha. When we limit God is when we stop finding solutions.
             After devotions, that we all stayed awake for (cough,cough), we headed over to the Antioch House to begin our service project. This year, we’re fixing up the lawns of some local people in Jackson. The houses are owned by the Perkins Foundation, but regular citizens of Jackson live in them. My group got put in the front of the house so I got to see everyone as they drove past and look at all of the other houses in the neighborhood. Even when we drove around yesterday, I was observing how run down the city is. It's so crazy to come to a place like this because I basically live in a bubble. At OC, we’re automatically privileged because we go to a private school. I don't really think any of us have a real reason to complain in comparison to the people that live here. I have so much to be grateful for. I'm not exactly sure what God plans to teach me from this trip, but I don't doubt that gratitude will be included. Dr. Perkins has mentioned several times the true definition of joy. What is it, you ask? GRATITUDE. That statement just makes so much sense to me. Having a grateful attitude means that basically nothing can bring you down. Gratitude changes your perspective on life, and a changed perspective leads to a life of happy days. I don't know if any of that made much sense because it's such a broad topic, but if it did, I hope that you were as impacted as I was.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you'll continue to pray for us as we continue along on our Jackson Journey.

Much Love,
Danielle Houston :)

I'm backkkkkkk! There are too many things going on that I can't just not share them all.

            A couple of minutes ago we finished our Good Friday devotions. Honestly, I had gone through this day only remembering the fact that it was Good Friday maybe once or twice. But while we were reading, I found myself asking myself, “Why die? What could be worth that much?” It's not like Jesus even just died a “normal” death. No. He was crucified. What could be worth that much? Me. Us. All of us. Not just blacks. Not just whites. All of us. We're all worth it. That's so crazy to me and I am so grateful. Today, I am most thankful for Jesus Christ. Honestly, I'm probably not even thankful enough.
              So I encourage you, that on this Good Friday, you take the time to realize what Jesus did for YOU. No greater love is this… The greatest love of all is felt by the Creator of the universe, for you. Just for you.

Day 1 and Day 2

Jackson Team 2016 is a great team. I was not quite sure what to expect coming back again because I have memories from the first time I came, two years ago. But I made sure before I came back that I did not turn those memories into expectations that I had for this trip. My decision to come back to Jackson was not a hard decision because I knew when I left that this place in 2014 that I wanted to come back. Some things have changed since I was here last, some for the good and some not. When we turned on the street to come to the foundation I knew exactly where I was and I was really excited to see the foundation and Dr. Perkins again. Our first day, consisted of traveling and a lot of team bonding. We really got to know each other when we got the time to talk and play games. Last night the team watched “Ghosts of Mississippi,” watching this movie prepared us for our tour of Medgar Evers’ house. The movie portrays the story of Medgar Evers’ life and the trial of his murderer many years later. Seeing the house and the neighborhood was very surreal. The craziest part of the tour of seeing the house was seeing the bullet holes in the wall. The morning before we went to his house we had devotions led by Dr. Perkins. This morning there were a few things that stuck out to me. He said that people doing better when they have a common goal and purpose which is very true in my life. Dr. Perkins brought up Psalm 139 which is a very powerful Psalm because it brings up that God knew us in our mother’s womb and He knows every word we speak before we even speak them. That last part really hit me hard because I have struggled with my mouth in the past and I still struggle with it and I need to work on that but I cannot do it without God. Throughout today I saw my team’s minds spinning as we listened and walked around Evers’ house. I know that God has good things planned for us on our trip.


-Casey Jacob

JACKSON TEAM 2016!