“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one
who seeks him” – Lamentations 3:25
In 1981, Eugene Lang, a millionaire industrialist, returned
to P.S. 121, the elementary school he had attended in East Harlem
50 years earlier, to address a class of graduating sixth graders. He intended
to tell the students, "Work hard and you'll succeed." But on the way
to the podium, the school principal told Lang that three-quarters of the
school's students would probably never finish high school, prompting Lang to
make an impromptu change to his speech: he promised college tuition to every
sixth grader who stayed in high school and graduated. Lang told the class about
witnessing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream"
speech at the 1963 March on Washington.
He urged the students to dream their own dreams, and promised to do all that he
could to help them achieve their goals.
Mr. Lang nurtured the students with tutors, trips to
colleges, an open door to his office and, above all, his energetic
encouragement.
In June 1987, the hopes and dreams unfolded in East
Harlem. The first two of Mr. Lang's protégés to complete high
school, Rosanna Serrano and Aristedes Alvarado, received their diplomas at
emotional graduation ceremonies conducted for the Manhattan
Center for Math and Science. Ms.
Serrano went on to attend college at Barnard and Mr. Alvarado enrolled at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
''Mr. Lang gave me a sense of someone being there for you,''
Aristedes said. ''You don't get that at school. When I told him I wasn't sure I
could make it in such a prestigious school as Rensselaer,
Lang said, 'Aristedes, you're a dreamer, dreamers can do anything.' '' Nearly
90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
Jesus Christ wants every heart to put their hopes and dreams
in Him. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that He does not disappoint those who
place their hope in Christ.
"To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the
prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope
that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us." - James I.
Packer
God’s Word: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I
wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” – Micah 7:7
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