Coming Soon to a neighborhood near you

Langston Hughes once wrote:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

When I graduated from bible college I had a dream — I was going to return to New Orleans and turn the city around. I was going to develop a youth outreach organization that would help end poverty, crime and general apathy. I needed a partner to help me make this dream come true, and I found one in Paul Dix.

We would sit up for hours planning how we would make a “positive impact;” first on New Orleans and then the world. We had some success and I believe we touched the lives of many youth over the years. But then “life” crept in. We got caught up in our families, and business efforts, and other great causes; and we allowed our dream for Positive Impact to be deferred.

The desire was always there, but oh, if we just had more time to make things happen. And then suddenly, earlier this year I received the news. Paul had passed away unexpectedly. Almost 20 years ago I baptised him, 16 years ago I performed his wedding, and now I was forced to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.

Those events really caused me refocus on that dream that had been deferred — Positive Impact. While Paul is no longer here to help me, I thank God for all the friendships developed over the years — friends with a similar passion. Paul may have left this world way too soon, but I thank God that my love for him as a friend and brother in Christ was evident, and that our hopes for Positive Impact have touched so many lives who now want to help see our dream come to fruition.