We were one sneeze away from never hearing about Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
King describes the incident in his final speech. He was signing copies of his first book at 29 years old in Harlem, N.Y., when he heard a female voice ask him if he was Martin Luther King Jr. He was still looking down when he said yes, and then he felt a stabbing sensation as a blade was thrust into his chest in an attempted assassination.
They rushed him to the hospital, and X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was resting on the edge of his aorta. They began a procedure to remove the blade without damaging the aorta. The New York Times printed an article the next morning that said if King had sneezed, he would surely have died.
As he recovered, he recalled a letter that a ninth grade girl sent to him in the hospital that said, “I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I’m simply writing you to say that I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze.”
If he would have sneezed, we would have missed a decade of gospel-centered, peaceful civil rights leadership. If he would have sneezed, he would not have seen the Civil Rights Bill signed. If he would have sneezed, the world would not have been inspired by his dream of a new America from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
What are you dreaming about that a sneeze has put an end to? Do you remember the dreams and visions you had leading to 2020? Now 2020 has come and gone, and the curtain has been pulled back, exposing the hearts of man and the great need for the gospel.
Now is the time for the church to love. Now is the time for the church to listen. Now is the time for the church to let freedom ring in our proclamation of the hope of the gospel to pull people out of brokenness and despair.
King’s final words ring true today. “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will … . I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Don’t let a sneeze keep you from fulfilling your dream.