Crossroads: Where Love and Faith Intersect

     When I was in high school, the neighborhood that I grew up in was less than ideal. At the time I did not know this because I had lived there all of my life and didn't think that the living was sub par. The crowd that I was involved in, is hard to classify, but there is no doubt that they could have been bad influences. Many of my friends did drugs, and committed several cases of vandalism. We were a Parks and Recreation Department's nightmare. (One of my friends actually still uses a park bench he stole as furniture.) Although these friends can be classified as criminals, they are some of the best people that I could have met and I thank God for having them in my life. I still hang out with one of these friends every once in awhile. He usually spends his days drinking, playing guitar, and sleeping on my couch. I once was asked, "Why do you still hang out with this guy?" There also a psalms quote that would go against him being in my presence, "Blessed in ...

      Today, we remember one of the greatest men to have ever walked this earth. As an American, few can hold a candle to him. He sought equal rights for all, he fought for nonviolence, and among all this he was a preacher. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hopefully will be remembered by all Americans for many years to come and, we hope, that his dream may be fulfilled. From the moment he was born to the moment he was assassinated on that hot April morning in 1968, Dr. King also practised what he preached. I encourage all of you who read this to look up many of Dr. King's sermons on YouTube. He was an immaculate preacher who could grip your attention with the mountains and valleys of his voice. In a sermon called "But If Not", he tells all of us to have the same faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did when they disrespected Nebuchadnezzar's order to pray to his golden statue. To have a "though faith" and not an "if faith", meaning to always believ...