georgia on my mind

wow-
what a cool day in georgia-
this morning a few of my friends and i went to ebenezer baptist church here in atlanta. its the church that martin luther king preached at each sunday back in the 60's.
the church itself was under construction, but we got to visit a museum dedicated to the civil rights movement. it was really emotional-
we looked at photos, artifacts, video footage- all telling the story.
we felt angry, sad, inspired all at the same time.
all around us was the voice of mlk booming out in his inspriational sermons.
i was reminded of what a heart breaking, and inspiring story his life was.
we saw the carriage that we was carted to his grave in-
his bible,
his speaking notes.
we saw replicas of his dining room table- where many of his sermons were born late at night-
and the jail cell where he wrote his classic "letter from a birmingham jail."
we were all in tears as they showed the footage of his funeral and at the same time playing the audio of his last message where he spoke of how he wanted to be remembered.
we ended our tour at his gravesite.
wow.

i called my girl during a break in the conference-
she picked up the phone and shouted "daddy!"
i said "hi janie- how are you?"
she said "janie nuvs daddy."
ugh!
tear out my heart!
i tried to hold it together but i was almost in tears all over again.
i choked out a "daddy loves janie too."

i knew this trip was going to be like this- all emotional.
last week i got a call from an old friend-
we were just chatting, making small talk when he asked,
"well, how can i pray for you?"
i hadn't been asked that in a long time-
and i was so stressed over so many things-
that i almost cried just sharing with him.

we ended our day at the conference with a message from one of my favorite authors, leonard sweet. it was sweet.
and i got to meet him and tell him how much i have appreciated his books and thoughts.

hmmm-
a binch of people are looking over my shoulder as i write this in the hotel lobby- so i'll have to write more later-

"just an old sweet song-
keeps georgia on my mind..."

-rob