I’ve changed my mind about being arrested in Raleigh this Monday.  I’ve decided to do it.  I understand it will be a stretch but I can’t seem to get the idea out of my head.  Am I hearing God’s voice or am I hearing my own?  I don’t know.

I’ve talked to several folks who have been through the process to get some idea of what I’m getting myself into though.  One person I know even wrote me a long email about ways I could make this work.  As much as I wish God would simply take away my brain injury challenges, I know God can’t do that.  While some folks may disagree with me on this, I don’t believe God takes away our struggles but rather gives us ways to go through them.

Am I making a mistake?  Perhaps. However, I’ve made plans to simply step out of the line when the protesters enter the capital if I think it will be too much stimulation for me.  I can even leave the capital building itself if my compensatory stradegies don’t work.  A friend reminded me, if I decide to not do this, it doesn’t mean I’m a failure.  It just means I’m not able to do this now but I can support the issue in other ways.

It may be a while until I write my next post since I need to recuperate from this to do so.  Here is a wonderful report written by Willie James Jennings who teaches at Duke Divinity School about his experience with this. In it he writes, “The modern lie of individualism is most powerful when we imagine that boldness comes from within.  It does not.  I comes from without, from the Spirit of God”  I feel God’s Spirit within me now especially through the many people who have listened to my fears and given me their wisdom. http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/7146/becoming_the_common__why_i_got_arrested_in_north_carolina_this_week___politics___/I’ve