Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”


Mary Stevenson

For me, 2006 has been a year of adventures.  Not in the sense of thrills and once-in-a-lifetime exciting activities that make your adrenaline pump, but in the sense of growing and maturing in my faith. 

James 1:2-4
            “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

On Sunday, it will be exactly one year since the night that I decided that I’d had enough my life, and I set out to end it.  That night I climbed up to the top of the fire escape of Davis with only one plan of how I was going to get down.  But as I sat on the railing with my feet over the side, ready to just let myself fall, I looked out toward downtown and saw the lit-up cross on Metro Baptist church.  That brief glimpse of that cross made me pause for just long enough to allow one of my professors to come out of Davis at that moment and, somehow, see me.  She saved my life.  That was only the beginning of my road.  It’s not a memory I like to revisit, and so not very many people know that I have struggled with not only thoughts of suicide, but two attempts (one was six months later).  Soon after the first one, I called my best friend one day to discover that she was gone.  The second one cost me three more dear friends, except this time because they didn’t want to have anything to do with me.  One of those “friends” went to the University officials and fought tooth and nail until I lost my executive council position in SGA, was forced to move off campus, and narrowly escaped being dismissed from Friends U altogether.

Since April, I have lost my job twice, my parents got divorced, and just two days ago, I came home from school to find a vacate notice on my apartment door because my roommate had not paid her rent.  Some days, I go to bed planning a calendar-burning party on New Year’s Eve, so that I can get rid of my 2006 calendar and not have to remember the hard things I’ve been through.

I tell you this not to make you feel sorry for me, because I have come to consider these my adventures in faith.  I know that God has used and is going to continue to use each of these events in my life to mature me, and to help me in the future.  I did things kind of backwards of the way things usually go.  I attempted suicide before I even experienced any of the events of this year that, at the time, seemed like things couldn’t get worse.  God brought me back from the brink of self-destruction, but He also stepped up the game and started allowing me to experience all kinds of unpleasant situations so that I could learn to roll with the punches. 

Jesus knows better than any of us what it is like to experience hard times.  One day, he was in heaven, stretched out across space painting a sunset, and the next, he was trapped in the tiny, confining, dark space of Mary’s womb.  Here was the eternal God, who lived in heaven in all its comfort and majesty, now on Earth, dressed in dusty, dirty rags and homeless!  Here was Christ, who had walked with the Father since before time began, suffering on the cross, knowing that Peter had denied even knowing him, and crying out saying, “God, why have you abandoned me?!”  Jesus knows better than any of us, what it’s like to feel lonely.  But for all His suffering, Christ earned his reward: He was resurrected!

Suffering doesn’t have to drain us dry.  It doesn’t have to be the end of the world as we know it.  We just have to realize that it makes us more mature…suffering completes us, and we receive our just reward later.  Today, I am happy to say that my friendship has been restored with the person who nearly got me kicked out of school.  I have a new job that I am enjoying, I gained a whole new family through a friend who has become closer than a sister to me (and along with her, two little boys and an 11-year-old girl who call me Aunt Lorna), and my roommate paid her rent today so that we don’t have to move out tomorrow. 

I’m keeping my 2006 calendar so that I can look back and be reminded of the trials God brought me through and the blessings He bestowed.  God is good, my friends.  Lean on Him.  Let Him carry you through those hard times and always step back to look for the good. 

 

I recently received an email from a friend that contained the following text:

 

“Petition for English Only:

 

Someone had an interesting conversation with a lady of Hispanic origin last week. She told me that she planned to come down to St. Mary's Hospital and get a job in Admissions (where I work). When I pointed out that we didn't have any openings she advised me that "soon" current employees will have to be fired so they can hire bi-lingual employees. According to this lady, the Spanish speaking people of the US are going to demand that all public facilities – like hospitals, courthouses, etc. - be staffed by
people who read, speak and comprehend Spanish.

We hear about the silent majority but I think we are going to have to speak up
or find ourselves a conquered country. That would be an interesting historical
note - greatest land in the world conquered by Mexico without ever firing a
shot! Think about it!

1. Pass the law now pending to make English the ONLY official language of the
United States of America .

2. Petition to Require citizenship to be eligible for social services in the United States.

3. No amnesty and No free services for illegal immigrants.

4. Vote in English only, and Drivers test in English only. (Do we want to wind up like Canada where EVERYTHING has to be written in 2 languages?)

 

Sign it and pass it on!”

 

            Absolutely not!  I will never, EVER sign a petition like this.  My passion for this issue is the very reason I chose to major in Spanish and is entire driving force behind my determination to devote years of time and effort into learning the language.  Here is an essay I wrote regarding this issue.

 

 

Try this experiment:  Think of a person close to you – a family member, friend, classmate, or co-worker – who is a legal immigrant to the United States, but who does not have a fluent command of English.  Now go to them, look them squarely in the eye, and, with all the arrogance and sincerity you can muster, say, “Due to the fact that you don’t speak English very well, I consider you to be a threat to my country and to my personal freedom.  You are threatening my freedom by speaking your own language, and therefore, I have decided that you may only continue to live here if you can speak English perfectly by the time this law is passed, whether tomorrow or years from now.  Furthermore, if you do choose to continue to live here without mastering my language (regardless of how hard you may be trying to learn it), I will personally see to it that I do my part to make your life as difficult and miserable as possible by prohibiting your access to any person who might be able to help you learn English or help you communicate with English speakers until you can do it for yourself.  If you dare to speak – or even think aloud – in your native language in public, you will be prosecuted and punished with fines and/or imprisonment.”  Follow up this lovely monologue with an invitation to your house for dinner, and note their response.

Feeling uncomfortable with your assignment?  Not something you’d want to say to your mom or your best friend?  The sad truth is, if you’ve already signed this petition, that’s exactly what you’ve done.  If your mom or your best friend doesn’t speak English at all or very well, an English Only law would then not only affect people beyond your circle of influence – the people you don’t mind trampling because you don’t have to watch their faces contort in grief and confusion; it would affect you, too.

What this push for an English Only amendment boils down to is a false ideal of national supremacy, and paranoia that somebody may be trying to knock the U.S. off its own pedestal.  Mexico is not about conquering the United States.  And the United States is about diversity.  That’s what this country was founded on, and removing the freedom of language would not only violate the First Amendment, but would remove one of the very reasons this country was founded.  The Pilgrims came to the New World not just for religious freedom, but also so that they could speak their own languages (check your history books). 

This country was not founded as a country that only speaks English.  In fact, when the New World was settled, there were over 30 languages represented in the United Colonies, and neighborhood school was left to choice as to what language would be used in school.  School was taught in German, Swedish, French, Finnish, Dutch, and the list goes on.  It is only in recent years that the United States has become obnoxious enough to discriminate against another person’s choice of language.  A country whose own Declaration of Independence states that “…all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…” does not have a leg to stand on in saying that man should only be allowed these inalienable rights if he speaks English. 

The culture of the United States is that of a spoiled rotten people: one that thinks it is meant for a life of convenience and that throws a temper tantrum when somebody as much as suggests it do something it doesn’t want to make the effort to do (such as learn another language).  Americans not only desire, but expect and demand that everybody should be like us and speak our language, whether they come to our country or we go to theirs.  With the exception of open-minded and curious foreign-language students who are excited about seeing the world, meeting its peoples, and enjoying language diversities, I have rarely seen an American take up a dedicated study of a foreign language in preparation for either a short-term vacation or a permanent relocation to the country of that language’s origin.  No, Americans go to Paris and act very surprised and slightly offended (the more polite way to express one’s grievance) when the French don’t speak English to them.  Americans go to Mexico and become belligerent, and downright, out-and-out angry when Mexicans fail to speak English to them, highlighting the United States’ disgusting and utterly shameful prejudice toward its southern neighbors.  If Americans had their way, the whole world would speak English for the sake of their convenience. 

Were the government to actually pass such a ridiculous law, it would not magically enable people to learn English any faster.  Ask any language student about the amount of time and effort it takes to properly learn a language.  Ability to sustain basic conversation may develop within a few months, but substantial proficiency takes two to three years, and it takes even a young student five to ten years to completely master a new language when they are completely immersed in the language at school.  For an adult who does not have the advantage of formal schooling from a young age, the difficulty and time frame grows even more.  Therefore, one cannot expect that someone would know how to function fluently in English after living in the US for two years; yet, this is exactly what is implied by pushing for an English Only amendment.

It is absolutely unethical to expect people to have mastery of English in order to live and function in the United States.  The only end that would be achieved by such a law would be the increased expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars to take care of the inmates in prisons and jails that would be bursting at the seams with good, decent, hardworking people who are innocent of any “crime” except speaking their native language in public.  The true crime, then, would be to destroy the United States by removing a foundational cornerstone of a nation dedicated to diversity.

If English were ruled the official language of the United States and did not allow for accommodations of non-English proficient immigrants, it would then be illegal for a legal Spanish-speaking (or Chinese or otherwise) immigrant to have a translator in any government operated facility.  A patient in a hospital could die if he is not allowed a translator to communicate with doctors and surgeons.  The United States Constitution grants to every person within its jurisdiction – legal immigrants as well as U.S. Citizens – the right to a fair trial.  The trail is not fair if the prosecutor or the defendant is not permitted a translator in order to understand what is being said and to make accurate responses.  

To rule the United States as an English Only country would strip the world’s most powerful nation of its most valuable asset: diversity.  The people of this nation, instead of resenting their “melting pot” of languages, should instead be thankful for the foreign-language speakers who construct massive office buildings in extreme weather conditions, who cook meals and wash dishes in restaurants for minimum wage, and who work third-shift jobs cleaning office buildings so that the powerful executives within their walls can run their companies without being interrupted by such trivial matters as fingerprints on a glass door.  Instead of robbing these people of their right to free speech, it seems the least that the people of the United States could do to thank these faithful, assiduous workers would be to grant them the grace to speak their own languages.

Who in the world has time for Xanga?  "Not I!" said the chicken...  Life is moving way too fast at the moment, so if ya really wanna know what's going on, you'll have to ask me...and to do that, first you'll have to catch me!  LOL

Short 'n' sweet...over 'n' out, folks!