I Have A Dream

[“…there will also be some who are the visionaries, who can see new possibilities and who call for change.” --- Martin Luther King Jr.]

Yesterday, my business lunch date, an editor from a nearby city newspaper and author of several books, excused himself to go to the restroom. I watched him walk from the table and when I turned back to my soup bowl, I was shocked to find a young lady kneeling beside my chair.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” she stammered. “But I couldn’t help but overhear the words you were saying, ‘writing, God, India, orphans.’ Who are you and what do you do? These are not words I usually hear around here.”

We talked fast as I tried to give a brief explanation of what she had heard: who I am and what I do. She was totally overwhelmed because her God had been leading her to believe she is to go to India for at least a year and work in an orphanage.

“We have so much here and they have nothing. I can afford to go. I want my life to count for something. But my friends don’t understand and they think I’m crazy. I really don’t know anyone in India and I’m just starting my search for connections.”

I was more than happy to give her my business card, along with a few serious warnings about being very careful as to whom she goes to work for. There are plenty of horror stories of USA college-age girls being taken advantage of when they go to work for some of the orphan businesses (unfortunately many are in it for the money you can bring them).

I could hear the wistfulness in her voice. I saw the excitement and yearning in her body language. I felt her heart motivation to help the poorest of the poor. I am looking forward to getting together with Tracey soon and learning more about her heart-call to India.

As Charles Ringma said in “Let My People Go With Martin Luther King Jr.”: “Discontent may be the first glimmer of light. It may lead to a growing hope that things could be different. And hope may lead to an emerging vision of what is possible. To say to the oppressed that they should not be discontent is to condemn them to the dark night of subexistence. Rather, discontent is the harbinger of hope.”

I also heard clearly that still, small voice saying, “Elaine, this is what I mean by being salt and light. How can I use you in my harvest field right here in your hometown if you are always stuck in your office at your computer? I need you to be a witness here on your island. I need you to bloom right where I’ve placed you – and then I can bless you in all the traveling you want to do.”

“Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts” (Amos 5:14-15 NIV).