Day 9 - Memphis to Little Rock

National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, encounter with Dr. Kyles, Little Rock High School National Historic Site

Wednesday...the National Civil Rights Museum was open! We arrived when the museum opened. If you aren't familiar with this location, this museum is located at the Lorraine Motel where MLK was assassinated while he was working for the rights of the sanitation workers in Memphis. They did an excellent job walking us through the whole Civil Rights Movement from the very start through efforts continuing through today. It was a great place to pull all the pieces of our trip together and place them appropriately into one larger story. I realized how much we have learned and experienced when again and again I looked at pictures or displays and thought, "I've been there already."

God again gave us an unexpected treat as well. Our time at the museum opened with a 30 minute video entitled "The Witness" featuring Dr. Kyles. Dr. Kyles was the young pastor leading the movement in Memphis and who called Dr. King to come and help them. He was also the only individual who was on the balcony next to Dr. King when he was shot. As we were finishing our time across the street from the motel at the location where James Earl Ray took the shot we noticed someone being interviewed on the motel balcony -- a place tourists are not allowed to be. Of course, we went back across the street and confirmed our guess -- it was Dr. Kyles. We went back into the museum and took the opportunity to find Dr. Kyles and have a brief conversation with him and shake his hand. To be able to talk with these individuals who were eyewitnesses or participants in the events we are learning about is a privilege we hadn't anticipated.

I am impressed again at the power shown through humility and self-sacrifice that is evident in both the leaders and the participants of the Civil Rights Movement. I haven't had the time to draw the specific connections between our time here and the Beatitudes, but it is obvious that it will not be difficult to do. The power to change the world does not rest in guns and bombs. It is found in humility and self-sacrifice and a willingness to pray and move for justice in Jesus' name.

We arrived in Little Rock late this afternoon with enough time to go to the Central High School National Historic Site. Tomorrow we will be on the first tour through the school and then walk across the street to sit down with Minnijean Brown-Trickey -- one more participant. From there it is to the airport and home!