Friday Faves and Feels #4: A John Lewis Biography

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope

Remember the movie, Selma? The one about the group of people who walked over a bridge as a part of march to secure voting rights? John Lewis was among the march leaders. He was beaten for his efforts and thought he was going to die. He didn’t. So he pressed on. Click or tap on the picture for a link to Amazon where you can purchase the book for yourself.

My generation doesn’t’ know as much as we think we do about fighting for civil rights. I’ve spent the month of February at the safety of my keyboard spewing my beliefs about how important it is that we create a USA which truly exhibits the equality it professes to stand for. At no point did my actions put my life in peril. This wasn’t the case for a lot of people fighting for equal rights earlier in our country’s history. I wasn’t aware just how difficult it was to call for change.

That’s why it’s important we read stories about people who actually put their life on the line for the sake of others. In His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, author John Meacham tells us the story about a man who was willing to die to bring about change and equality for others.

John Lewis was beaten. (Not long after the above picture was captured.)

Still, he marched.

He was thrown in prison.

Still, he spoke out.

He was stripped of his clothes and made to sit in jail naked.

Still, he fought for others.

Gassed… threatened… bombed...

Still, he pressed on for equality and change.

Over and over again, John Lewis faced the choice of doing something that might cost him his life or settle for the status quo. He chose to never settle.

I came away from this book with the thought that John Lewis knew more about what it meant to live like Christ than I’d ever considered.

You know, if “carry your cross” meant actually dying for others.