Today we take time to remember a man who went to amazing lengths to speak for those who had no voice, to work toward racial and social equality, to make peace where there was dissent and oppression. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has inspired millions with his dream:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.

Though that dream seemed impossible, he dared to dream it. And countless others have joined him in dreaming that same dream. He encouraged the frustrated and the downtrodden to keep pressing on toward this dream:

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Today as we honor the life of a man who had a vision to see a group of oppressed people rise to new heights and be treated with dignity and respect, we think about another group of downtrodden people. We see them each month on the trips we take. They are suffering, and they have no voice. They are hurting, and no one seems to care. Their children have needs that they cannot meet. We must fly to them.

There are times that schedules and finances make this dream of helping the hurting seem impossible, but we must run to them. If running is impossible, then walk. And if the obstacles keep coming, then crawl. But get to them. Move forward. They are waiting for you.

Maybe you’ve been considering a trip to a place you’ve never been, to help someone you’ve never met, with an extravagant love you’ve never shown. This is a beautiful dream. We join you in this dream and pray that you’ll fly to them. We carry the Message that will change their lives forever in ways they’ve never imagined. Fly to them. God loves these people, and His heart aches for their pain and spiritual blindness. Fly to them. They feel unloved and forgotten. Fly to them.

Christine Ellis grew up in North Carolina and graduated in 2001 from Pensacola Christian College with a Bachelor of Science in Spanish and English Education. She lived and worked with her husband Robbie as missionaries in Honduras for six years, focusing on women’s and children’s ministries. After helping host a general clinic with Medical Missions Outreach in 2006, Christine coordinated two MMO surgical brigades by working with the local hospital and social workers to provide surgeries to patients who were unable to afford them. After the brigades were over, she continued volunteering at the local hospital in the ER and the Labor and Delivery wing. Robbie and Christine moved to Baltimore in 2014 to join the staff of MMO; Christine became Administrator in 2016.