A word from Coach Nathaniel Isler-Williams:

Today, we remember and celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As a young Black man growing up in Atlanta, GA, I had many opportunities and experiences to celebrate this great man’s birthday. I have visited the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and Dr. King’s birth home many times. As God began to weave in me the fabric of what it would mean to become a pastor, my appreciation and affinity for Dr. King grew more and more. I admired His strong stance on Scripture and His weaving of Biblical truth in pursuit of social change and justice. Dr. King was not alone in this monumental endeavor but was the face and voice that I pictured and read as a young man trying to make sense of an ever-changing world. We have come a long way as a nation since President Reagan signed a bill enacting the third Monday in January a federal holiday. It was first enacted January 20, 1986, though not every state observed it until January 2000.

When I think about this day, I think about the sacrifice, the literal blood, sweat, and tears, that Dr. King and many others suffered for all people to be treated equally and fairly. From my perspective, Dr. King did this out of a motivation that comes from a love of God and God’s word. Dr. King was by no means perfect or sinless, but in his humanity he saw the sin that so entangled the world that he was living in and sought to help change it. I believe he was as successful as he was in doing so because of the spiritual background he had and the belief in the God whom he served. Dr. King understood there was no greater sacrifice than Jesus laying His life down on the cross for a sinful creation. He understood the sin he committed was no less than the sin than the Ku Klux Klan or Jim Crow proponents that threatened his life every day. Dr. King understood and lived a life that showed he needed God’s grace and forgiveness just as they did. As Dr. King marched, sat in, and spoke, I believe the need for grace and forgiveness to be extended was his first motivation. He knew that change could only be accomplished when a man’s heart was changed by the Gospel of Jesus. It is then and only then we could march arm and arm together. It is then and only then his dream could be accomplished and that little boys and girls would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. His dream, a pathway of his ultimate dream of people knowing Jesus, is displayed all throughout our Thunder community. Different races coming together not just under the umbrella of education or athletics but a dream in which a like-minded, Gospel-minded community can come together in pursuit of transforming the lives of young people and their families through the power of the Gospel of Jesus.

May today be a day of celebration and remembrance but also motivation that the work is not done. We have made progress; my family’s racial makeup is a testament to that fact. However, we still have a long way to go. May we not do it in our own strength. May we be motivated by the life of Dr. King but, more importantly, his example of what it means to live a life changed and lived through the power of Christ.