He looked out upon a sea of faces. They’d journeyed to Washington DC to hear him speak, searching for hope.

But, wondered Martin Luther King, was he feeding their souls? Touching their hearts?

Pausing for a tiny second … he heard a voice above the crowd.

Mahalia Jackson, his friend, was shouting: “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin!”

In that instant, her voice triggered a phrase in MLK’s memory … the Holy Spirit urged him to use it.

With his voice rising in a slight tremor, he said: “…I still have a dream...”.

It felt right! Those words quickly punctuated several more sentences.

“I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin,

but by the content of their character…”

He knew that God had allowed him to lift the spirits of the multitudes.

Then, the words of an old spiritual were a fitting close, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

That amazing Godwink … the voice of a friend in the crowd … words never prepared for his talk … resulted in Martin Luther King delivering what has been judged as “the most honored speech of the 20th century.”

On this day may we thank God for MLK … and Godwinks of love and peace.

SQuire & Louise