{"id":427,"date":"2014-01-20T14:31:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T14:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=427"},"modified":"2014-01-20T14:31:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T14:31:44","slug":"mlk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html","title":{"rendered":"MLK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today would have been Martin Luther King&#8217;s 85th birthday!<\/p>\n<p>I wonder&#8230;I wonder&#8230; If he were alive today what he would think and say of our racial divide. What would he have to say about God being eliminated from our national conversation?<\/p>\n<p>Martin Luther King left this great nation with a legacy. Have we followed in his footsteps? Have we perverted his intent? He did not want us to look at the color of a person&#8217;s skin but at the content of their character. We have reversed that. It seems character no longer matters&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I never met him. I was aware of his friendship with my father and my father&#8217;s deep respect for him. I don&#8217;t want to presume or assume&#8230;but I believe he would be grieved if he looked around today at the anger, the bitterness&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Certainly things have changed, in many ways for the better. There are fairer laws. There is a measure of equality on the books. But do the races understand each other better today? Is there more unity and love? Is there more grace?<\/p>\n<p>If not then we have failed Dr. King and so many who went before us with conviction and character. Where are such leaders today? Will you and I step up to the plate?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today would have been Martin Luther King&#8217;s 85th birthday! I wonder&#8230;I wonder&#8230; If he were alive today what he would think and say of our racial divide. What would he have to say about God being eliminated from our national conversation? Martin Luther King left this great nation with a legacy. Have we followed in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20,19,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-current-issues-in-the-news","category-leadership","category-personal-thoughts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MLK - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLK - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today would have been Martin Luther King&#8217;s 85th birthday! I wonder&#8230;I wonder&#8230; If he were alive today what he would think and say of our racial divide. What would he have to say about God being eliminated from our national conversation? Martin Luther King left this great nation with a legacy. Have we followed in&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-20T14:31:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MLK - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MLK - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"Today would have been Martin Luther King&#8217;s 85th birthday! I wonder&#8230;I wonder&#8230; If he were alive today what he would think and say of our racial divide. What would he have to say about God being eliminated from our national conversation? Martin Luther King left this great nation with a legacy. Have we followed in&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html","og_site_name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","article_published_time":"2014-01-20T14:31:44+00:00","author":"Ruth Graham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html","name":"MLK - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-20T14:31:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-20T14:31:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/mlk.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MLK"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/","name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ruth Graham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975","name":"Ruth Graham","description":"\u201cTransparent\u201d is the word most people use to describe Ruth Graham. No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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