The Wednesday before the 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I did my weekly job of leading elementary chapel at Windham Christian Academy, where I am the spiritual life coordinator.  Although I was actually wrapping up a series on the 10 commandments, I was well aware of the upcoming holiday and the importance of using some of chapel to discuss it.  While planning all of this earlier that same week, I sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me to include my contact juggling routine to Mahalia Jackson's "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".  This was perfect.  It as a song most of the kids would know (although certainly not Mahalia's rendition of it), Ms. Jackson was frinds of Dr. King's, and was even a much bigger part of the March on Washington than most people are aware.  There was only one problem.  I haven't performed that routine in at least a year, and when I do practice it, well, it looks like I haven't performed it in a year.  But the prompting was strong, so I proceeded.

I started by showing the students a photo of Dr. King delivering his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, with Mahalia Jackson's face highlighted on the podium behind him.  Then I told them how King had preached that message a week or two earlier in a church, and had a different speech for Washington DC.  But as he spoke, the speech was falling flat, and people were getting restless.  Then Mahalia yelled, "Tell 'em about your dream, Martin."  He switched midspeech, and delivered what is one of the greatest speeches in world history.  Then I told the kids I was going to juggle to a song by that same lady. (You can learn more about this incident below).

Mahalia Jackson prompts Martin Luther King Jr. to improvise "I ...

History.com

https://www.history.com › ... › August 28

There's so much about that story I love.  A mere performer had such a major impact on how that day turned out; King was humble enough to listen to her and take her advise; and as far as I know, Jackson was humble enough to never seek credit for her influence.

And my contact juggling was flawless; quite honestly, the best I've ever done.  Even better than my video that I posted on the Mahalia Jackson fan club page!