On Thursday I spoke to 650 students at a public high school in Tennessee that was having racial tensions. I stood in a gymnasium with a microphone and spoke from the heart. I got great questions from the students, thunderous applause at times, and praise from the principal and superintendent. One thing I did was apologize for the mess my generation made for them as I encouraged them to aim higher. I also stressed the importance of the Golden Rule, treat others how you would like to be treated. I hope I get more opportunities to address high school students. On Monday evening, I will speak at my Alma mater, Roanoke College, for the first time in more than a decade. I am excited because I see the young people as our only hope.
I’m reading the love scriptures today. What is love and how do we know when it is flourishing in our lives?
Here’s a very special and appropriate scripture for today.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together ...
