“We can’t fix yesterday….

Carolyn Maull McKinstry is a 16th Street Baptist church bombing survivor.  Four of her friends were not that fortunate that day in September of 1963 in Birmingham Alabama. They lost their lives due to the hatred of the Ku Klux Klan who planted dynamite in their church.  20 other people were injured as well in the blast and another girl lost her sight due to being struck in the face with pieces of glass.  Carolyn also told us the story of how her grandmother died in August of 1957 in the basement of a hospital.  That is where they took people of color to be “treated”.  She has seen many examples of how people of color have been treated poorly growing up as a small child.  Clearly Carolyn has plenty of reason to be bitter. However tonight we met with her in an old church in Birmingham and listened to her bring a message of reconciliation.  She told us of how we need to reconcile first with God and then with others. Isn’t it ironic that the title of Reverend Cross’s  sermon that fateful September morning when the church was bombed was to be “A love that forgives”.  Later she told us, “We’ve lost our ability to lament.” She said.  When we look at the happenings in our world, we seem to be content with school shootings, racial injustice, and other problems that are plaguing our society.  She challenged us by saying, “We can’t fix yesterday, but if we WANT something different, we need to DO something different.”

May God show us all how we can do our part to help bring about change.

Bill

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