If you had the blessing of knowing your grandparents, you know that their best gift to you was two-fold: love and stories. I am blessed to still have all four of my grandparents alive. I know of their deep love for my brother and I. And they certainly told me many stories.

One of the stories I remember most vividly is the story of when my mom’s father, Ed Finlay, met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In advance of today, a day when we honor all that Dr. King did and stood for, I emailed my grandparents and asked them to write down the story. For me, for my blog readers, and so that I can tell the story to my children. So, I turn it over to Ed Finlay. This is his story. 

Ed and Janie Finlay with me at my graduation from seminary (May 2009)

I had been invited by Columbia University to deliver a paper on how to do long-range college and university planning, my area of expertise. I arrived in New York on Sunday evening in order to be available for the Monday morning session. It was Mother’s Day and a wet and miserable night.

There was something going on, a backup of some sort in the street, and the cab couldn’t get me to the hotel entrance, letting me off instead at thecorner. So I was lugging a suitcase in one hand and case of carousel slides in the other as I approached the New York Hilton. As I walked under the covered driveway I noticed there was no doorman in attendance although there was a cluster of five or six men talking by the door.

I was getting ready to free up my right hand by putting down a bag when the gentleman closest to the door reached out and pulled it open when still focused on the group he was with. As I went by him and verbally expressed thanks he nodded and glanced toward me. I recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. immediately. I had somewhat followed his career and had been especially touched by his “Letters from the Birmingham Jail”. Now I found myself touched by his simple act of courtesy, seemingly instinctive.

There were no cameras around; the others in the group didn’t even seem to notice the help he’d provided. But he had really helped me out.

Later, after checking in (a long process on a busy night) and getting a bite to eat, I punched the “up” button on a bank of eight or more elevators. I got on, punched in my floor number and off we went. But only to the Mezzanine. The door opened and in walked MLK and his bodyguard. I said, “Hello again” and he laughed and replied, “Are you stalking me?”

“Hardly!” I replied, “I got on the elevator first, remember.” We exchanged a few pleasantries – he was in NY to raise money and I, to deliver a paper – said “Goodnight. Good luck.” And that was that – or so I thought.

On Tuesday morning I boarded a Delta Air Lines flight back to Houston by way of Atlanta. Yes, it happened again. Right before the flight was to take off, MLK and his bodyguard boarded the flight and sat down almost directly across the aisle from me. Imagine the odds of that happening. He laughed that his bodyguard would have preferred him in the middle seat but he liked the aisle as did I. Again we chatted a bit – he had raised a good amount of money; my talk had gone well – and then we each picked up something to read. I said goodbye to him when he got off in Atlanta and never saw him again. A few years later he was assassinated.

I can’t say I like everything I knew or later learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. but I will always remember that rainy night when he did what seemed to  be “second nature” to him and opened the door of a big NYC hotel to help out a fellow human being whose hands were full.

-Ed Finlay

Many of us remember Dr. King most vividly for his brilliant Letter from Birmingham Jail (which I encourage you to read today) or the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. But my grandfather’s strongest memory of Dr. King was when “I found myself touched by his simple act of courtesy, seemingly instinctive.” 

May God bless you today with an opportunity to extend a simple act of courtesy to another person. May we recognize our opportunity to serve those we meet today in Jesus’ name as Dr. King did. May we experience his famous words, “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.” I believe he lived those words the night he opened a door for my grandfather in New York City.