My older brother John gave me Dr. Seuss’ children’s book, Oh the Places You’ll Go! for my college graduation. In the fall, I would move to Chicago to go to seminary for the ministry. I thought the Dr. Seuss book was a fantastic gift.

John wrote nice words in the front. On the back page, he had taped some cash with a note explaining that the money was for “when you need a break ― whether it’s a concert, a show, or a trip to the beach ― and you feel you can’t afford it ― now you can.”

Now you can — are there words more potent than these?

Now you can.

We live in a world where it is easy to believe that we can’t.

In May, a group of us from our church went down to Cass Community Social Services in Detroit to help renovate an old four-story brownstone that Cass Community had bought from the City of D…