Where Were You on November 22nd, 1963?

I have many memories from growing up here in my home town of Dallas, but none are more vivid than this day, November 22, 1963.

I was in my 10th grade Geometry class at South Oak Cliff High School. I had so wanted to be with some of my friends whose parents took them downtown to witness the President driving by in his motorcade! This memory is indelibly imprinted in my mind. Midway through our class, our Principal spoke on the PA system. He shared the shocking and unbelievable news "Our President has been shot -- let us pray......." I recall, as if it were yesterday, that as he told us this terrible news, we all gasped and my teacher and many of us students began to cry. A while later, he spoke again..."President Kennedy has died." We were in a state of shock. Our country was in a state of shock.

Perilous and heartbreaking times back then and they continue today and across the world. How should we react to these times. The answer lies in that second paragraph where I shared that our Principal spoke to us via the PA system and said....."LET US PRAY!" Prayer should always be our first response -- go to the one that offers us peace and comfort during the toughest of times and celebrates with us in the most joyous times. And our response and actions, as Christians, should be that we become agents of love -- comforting, caring and loving.

Back to President John F. Kennedy and his legacy. Though he had some hefty controversial personal issues, still, as President he established the Peace Corps, the NAVY Seals, and the Green Berets. His leadership was instrumental for the civil rights movement and the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He inspired a new generation of Americans to engage in public service; his example still calls us to "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

I like to think that our President-Elect will have monumental successes in his term of office, and come what may -- he will be MY President so I commit to pray for him -- that God will protect, guide and direct him. And in the meantime, I plan to show up on behalf of my country. Instead of asking what our new President Trump, the government and my country can do for me.....I plan on stepping up my game and asking "What can I do for my country? What can I do for my world?" Thank you, President Kennedy, for the reminder!

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

Because of a Leadership Training in Richardson, TX on Saturday, I drove down a few days early to be with my kids in Frisco. Being in the Dallas area when the tragic shootings took place on Thursday night, hearing the heart-wrenching details of the police and civilians killed or injured, brought memories back to me when I was in my 10th grade Geometry Class at South Oak Cliff High School here in Dallas. Over the loud speaker came the inconceivable words of our Principal, "President Kennedy has been shot and killed". It seemed our world momentarily stood still. We were in shock. How could something so appalling take place in OUR city, Big "D"? Then a few years later, in 1968, the terrible atrocities of the civil rights riots made us feel that our country was falling apart. I remember Martin Luther King's words just before his assassination in 1968: "Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

The answer then and the answer for Thursday night and all other diabolical killings and injuries, is still the same, though it almost sounds lofty and unattainable: Love is the answer. In the photo here is a Dallas area man, Jimmy Lee Robinson, who gives his time to spreading good news in the form of homemade signs held up with positive and motivating words. In light of these last few days, when I saw him walking down Main Street, here in Frisco, I made a U-turn to get a photo of this day's message: "I love you". I hugged him. He's my brother. We're on the same team. We're in the same family of God. We all want and need love -- even those misguided, mentally bent individuals who take people's lives. If they had known love, perhaps their decisions would have been different.

Whatever message we should be conveying -- in good AND bad times -- boils down to one primary theme....LOVE. We are faced with a choice. We can let the horrible tragedies weigh on us until we are angry and in fear and we ask..."How can LOVE be the answer when there are those who are filled with so much hate, bitterness, sick minds and spirits?" It's the same answer when they killed and crucified our Savior...."Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do." That's love. Oh that we can give that love.

I said it last week and I say it again. "It's time for us to love and pray passionately." Yesterday, at the meeting I attended, the speaker prayed these words of St. Francis of Assisi. If we took these words, meditated on them and sincerely prayed them with all our hearts, just maybe we could be the catalyst for change:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. Amen.