Author: Jeff Hampton

For Wilshire Baptist Church

We were settling in for the Ash Wednesday service at Wilshire, and I looked up to see one of our pastoral residents at the front of the chapel making the sign of the cross in ashes on the forehead of a young woman. His lips moved with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and she nodded, turned and walked up the aisle toward the door. I knew she was scooting off to work with the children and she had asked for ashes early because she was going to miss the service.

Continue reading “Signs of the Cross”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Did you hear about the woman who climbed the stone pedestal of the Statue of Liberty to protest U.S. immigration policy? It was last July 4, and her actions prompted evacuation of the monument on one of its busiest days. The same woman, Therese Patricia Okoumou, staged a similar protest just a few weeks ago in Austin when she climbed to the roof of Southwest Key Programs, an agency that operates schools and shelters for unaccompanied immigrant children. The building is only four stories tall, but the protestor’s actions shut it down for a while and got people talking about family separation policy again.

Continue reading “Up and Down”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

“Wildflowers in Progress, Do Not Mow.”

The sign didn’t say, “Do Not Walk,” so I parked the car and got out to see for myself, but I couldn’t see any wildflowers at all. Apparently, they were getting themselves ready down in the dirt and below the short winter grass. They were “in progress,” as the sign suggested, and I was being told to trust the sign and just be patient and wait.

Continue reading “Signs of Progress”