Frankly Devoted

There’s a lot of talk about "erasing our history.”  Just the evening before last, on the eve of Juneteenth, a monument commemorating the "Lost Cause" of the Civil War was lawfully removed from the Historic DeKalb County Courthouse. This is one of many monuments being removed, whether lawfully or unlawfully, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the resulting protests.  The Historic DeKalb County Courthouse, minus its 1908 monument to the Confederacy My  Great Great Grandfather Wrenn, My Great Great Grandfather Paschall, and my Great Great Great Grandfather Strickland all fought for the Confederacy. Great Great Grandpa Wrenn enlisted at the age of 21 in May, 1861. “Grandpa Bob” Paschall was wounded and was a prisoner of war. Grandpa Strickland was wounded at Fredericksburg, a wound that required a few weeks of convalescence. He was also captured, but exchanged and returned to duty. He soldiered on until the surrender at Appomattox Court Hous...

Lord, we praise You and thank You that You are an Awesome God. You laid the Foundations of the Earth. You alone command the mornings. We know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. We thank You that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. We thank You, even in our lament, for the events of this week. In the midst of strife, hurt, pandemic, and pain, we thank you: For all of the helpers – those serving the sick, and those protecting your people For those who despite their hurting find the strength to speak out for all of those who have given voice to the voiceless, for those who have marched to bring awareness to generations of injustice, for those who have spoken out against misuse of power for those who have called out religious posturing for those who cry out to bring attention that the system is not broken, that indeed it was built this way for those w...