“Meals & Missions”
2019 Focus: Missions Outreaches:
January 2019 – Valentines for Veterans
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Matthew 16:24
A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote “He hasn’t got a chance.” Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all of the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came with feeling, “There was this teacher.” The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old, out still alert lady the magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. “It’s really very simple,” she said. “I loved those boys.”