There’s no school on Monday, and the first reaction is to wake up at the normal time, cheer, roll over and go back to sleep. That sounds good t me, too, but before you do that realize what Monday is all about. It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it honors one of the truly remarkable leaders in American history.

Martin Luther King Sr. was a minister and his son Martin grew up firmly planted in the Southern Baptist tradition. But, it would be wrong to say that Martin Luther King Jr. had no doubts about his faith and his world view. He was challenged early and often and never more so than when his life and the lives of his family came under fire.

Martin Luther King Jr. chose to stand up to oppression knowing that his courage might cost him his life. Ultimately, it did, but not before he made an incredible impact on the people of the United States, black and white. Martin Luther King Jr. told us that he had seen the promised land, that he might not make it there with us, but he knew the promise was there.

The promise is still there and we still haven’t reached the promised land. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content
of their character" We haven’t gotten there yet, but Dr. King’s dream lives on.

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens . . . when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last. Thank God Almighty. We are free at last.”