Daily Refreshers

Morning Devotions = Daily Refreshers

We have chosen to guide our students through the short New Testament letter from the Apostle Paul to his good friend and partner in the faith, Philemon. Have you ever read it? Just 20 short verses, but packed with relevance for our Civil War and Civil Rights March.

Paul complimented Philemon for his love and refreshing encouragement toward other people in both his actions and words. Encouragement literally means to "breathe courage into" another person. Your students have been diligently practicing the beautiful art of speaking and living encouragement, not only toward one another, but also for our tour guides, those they meet in museums and restaurants, and hotels. Believe me, we make quite a splash wherever we go, yet the compliments for behavior keep coming back our way.

Here is the reality though. Philemon was the owner of the runaway slave named Onesiumus. Paul made a heartfelt appeal that Philemon would receive Onesiumus back, not only as a new brother in Christ, but as a free man, "no longer as a slave" [v16]. While processing the reality of prejudice, racism, and slavery in Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, students have been invited to consider where slavery still exists today. Central to the good news of Jesus, the same gospel that propelled Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is freedom from anything that impedes men and women, boys and girls, from experiencing the fullness of living as a loved child of God.

It is a thrill watching our students connect the dots in their own lives as they reflect on history, classes in school, the Bible, and this rich experience.