Free at Last!

[Pastor Gary]

On the anniversary of the "I have a dream speech" I say we should "join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

...because Amy is about to be discharged from hospital #2 in a few minutes.

We will be in Huntsville for at least another week, as she is not cleared for air travel until a follow-up X-ray next week to see if all the problems have cleared up. Still, we are going "home" -- her dad's house is like home-away-from-home.

We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support... cards, visits, flowers, calls, emails and offers of assistance. Martha, Chris, Jinjer, Katie, Sheila, Christine, Sam, Barbara, Larry, Amy... too many to mention have come by, sat and talked, prayed, brought Starbucks...

Special thanks to John and Cathy Payne who drove down from Cleveland after work one evening just to spend an hour or so with Amy and drive back home. Money can't buy the kind of friends and ohana we have!

[one love]

praise the Lord, we have been praying Brother

[KBevangelist]

Good to hear she is being released.

We are still praying

KB

[DeWayneTN]

That's good news!

[INLOVE]

Great news!

[soulsearcher]

God is great, and greatly to be praised!

Careful now, Gary. I will have to pray extra hard for you to have the strength to leave Alabama, as I know those "roots" are probably sprouting trees by now. Oh, the agony you must be dreading - having to drudge back to those isolated islands.

[Shellie]

Pastor Gary wrote:

old Negro spiritual:

Careful PG....we don't want anyone on Jude to think your races. That's old African-American spiritual.

[Dr. Ron]

I am happy for you and Amy. Prayer has been ongoing here at Cedar Ridge for her.

As for the "free at last thing".....I am certain we will be choked to death with that tonight. While it was the greatest speach of MLK"s life, I knew MLK. and Obama is no MLK.........he isn't even African-American!

Anyway, happy for you and Amy. Keep us posted.!

[PastorDaniel]

Great News Pastor Gary.

[free]

Dr. Ron...Is there anyone you DON'T know?

[Paully_44]

Dr. Ron...Is there anyone you DON'T know?

i think I asked him a similar question during lunch at Jacks.

[Dr. Ron]

I know far more people than you would believe.

I met MLK and his dad years before there was a civil rights movement. I was working in a revival in Atlanta....they came to check out the COGOP. There were a lot of blacks who were looking at the church in those days since we did not show predjudice.

I followed him during the 60s. Saw him once again in 63 in Nashville while I pastored a black church on music row at age 16. Gerald and Scooter's grand dad put me in that church on 16th ave so . He thought I could work with the black community since I had been in so many countries and lived with the people. It was a great experience.

I was living in Memphis working in a new field when MLK was shot at the Loraine motel. I immediately went there.

I knew the Sr, MLK much better. I pastored in Atlanta 70-73 and he was still the Sr. Pastor at Ebinezer .....about 6blocks from my church. He was a Godly man.

Yes I do know and have known a lot of people. I have been blessed. But it makes little difference if you don't know the one who is above all.

[free]

Dr. Ron you really should write a book...I'm sure you'd sell a few dozen here on Jude2!

Great story and thanks for sharing.

[Pastor Gary]

While it was the greatest speach of MLK"s life,...

Sadly, a lot of it was conceptually plagiarized from Pastor Archibald Carey's 1952 address to the Republican National Convention:

Carey, 1952

We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans:
My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

That's exactly what we mean —
from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia —
let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for... the disinherited of all the earth —
may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside, LET FREEDOM RING!

King, 1968

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire!
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York!
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi!
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Obama is no MLK.........he isn't even African-American!

Now, I might debate that point -- Obama is far more "African-American" than MLK; Obama's father was from Kenya (the AFRICAN half) and his mom was American (the AMERICAN half) -- so he seems, to me, African-American.

[Dr. Ron]

Actually. Obama's family is NOT Keynaian.

His roots are actually Arab. His father's mother was African. His grandfather was Arab. He has NO African blood at all.But I do get your point.