Hey... Where's my hat?

Today, we embarked upon Atlanta, Georgia for the Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant. Six good friends together in one of the largest cities in the United States. We braved the traffic on the 400, checked into our fabulous hotel, and then figured out the MARTA to get to the CNN Center. After a good dinner from Moe's we made our way to the Congress Center. We checked out a few of the exhibitors and made our way to our seats. After finding out that we didn't need to be ushers we sat down in the midst of a diverse crowd.
After the political greetings of the Governor and Mayor, there was singing and a gospel choir. They were fantastic and had us on our feet. I had chills, feeling the presence of Christ in that place. Dr. Shaw got up to preach and began to talk about having many sympathies in that place. He said I am here and I am surrounded by many black folks and they realized that what I have been asked to do is a hard thing. First, I have been given a subject to preach on and second, I have been given a time limit. He did a wonderful job of bringing the people together in realizing what our purpose was. He spoke of the peace and justice of Jesus Christ. He spoke about Jesus saying I am. Jesus is the I am. That is all he needs to explain himself. Then he said that our response should be, HERE, I AM lord. Without you I am nothing, but with you I am everything. If we are realistic, we know that if we hurt the least of these we are hurting Christ.

Former President Jimmy Carter brought a message of hope and encouragement. He shared from the scripture and shared from his heart. He asked us a list of questions about life and justice and what we should really believe. We were challenged to come together and be unified even though we are so diverse.

I'll admit, there were parts of the evening that I found myself asking questions. I asked why did they do that or what just happened. I also looked around at all those ladies and said.. "Where's my hat?" Too bad I left it at home.