De'ja vu is the feeling of having already experienced a present situation. That is the feeling I had as we distributed this Friday in the colonias. We really did not have a full load of food this last Friday, but enough to fill 60+ boxes of food. But we did have 2 full bags of donuts!!! Yep, I was against the donut bag lady. Tuesday distribution was good, even including loaves of bread from Breadsmith, as well as can of a soda of some kind, bottles of water, and lots of lychees. Everything seemed almost back to normal, except the fist bumping instead of hugs and wearing masks so that we could not see the smiles on everyone's faces. But as we looked closer we could see the sparkling eyes of love and appreciation.
We received an amazing donation of little girl dresses (14 of them) and on closer inspection discovered that the skirts and pockets we made from men's shirts. They are so adorable and rightly colored. Many thanks to the lady who took the time to fashion them.
cute as can be
In a few previous blogs I talked about women and their place in Bible history. Today we are going to explore the place of women in New Testament times - the time after the resurrection. Matthew expounds on the purity of women (5:27-32). What an understanding and sympathy he had for women! Jesus also had a reverence for women. The fact that He himself was born of woman seems t prove His respect was well grounded. A new era was on the horizon for women and their place in society. Form His beginnings on earth, women the women were instinctively responsive to Jesus' teachings and seemed to be devote to Him. A new dawning for the position of women seemed to be approaching.
Just when everything in this world today feels like hate and distrust, someone comes along and renews our faith in humanity. A small thing - like a twinkle in a eye indicating a smile, holding the door for you, etc. Saturday it happened to us as we were waiting in line to get gas at Cosco. The lines were fairly long, so when a car drove off at the the nearest pump (there were 2 pumps in each lane) a car in front of us drove up and just waited a minute or so. It seems the car in front of him was almost finished fueling, so he waited so that he could drive up and allow us to use the nearest pump. Fred took the time to thnk him and he replied that it was ok - he just wanted to be polite!!!
Racial reconciliation reflects the heart of God. It is not the actual gospel, but the fruit of the gospel. God wants ALL people to be saved. AS a child I was raised in Chicago where, in my mind, there was no racial or ethnic division. Our neighborhood had many different nationalities and we all played together without a thought of who was German or Italian or even Irish. We were a group of ragtag kids who had not a care in the world except that fact that we did not want to miss the ice cream man. I just naturally accepted the fact that when we went shopping in the big stores in the Loop that we had to put a dime in the stall in the women's restrooms in order to use that particular stall, giving no thought to the fact there were some stalls that did not require a dime. Those were the ones which were not cleaned after each use. I took no notice of who used the "free" stalls, but now I realize that discrimination was being practiced. I did get into trouble once by holding the door open for someone to enter without paying. After we moved to a small town Wisconsin where there were no other folks around except Caucasians (this was in the early 50's), I really did not realize it as I myself had no distinction between races. My father owned a small cafe in a high tourist area where people form Chicago and Southern Wisconsin came to their cottages to enjoy the lakes. A large car pulled up in front of the cafe, a gentleman got out and opened the door for another man, then settled back into the driver's seat as the man entered the retaurant. My father asked the man if his driver was coming in also and the man replied, "Oh, can he come in - he is black". My father invited the driver in to eat - that was really my first understanding of prejudice. There was a racial divide during the time of the Lord between the Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles were to be avoided at no cost. Jesus tried to bring a unity together for them. Only one God for all - we all can be one in Christ. Racism has been going on for a long time. It is the discrimination of people by the color of their skin or origin. It is the notion that one is superior because of how they were born. Human atrocities of the world were based on racism - the Civil War, the Holocaust, Rwanda and many others. The basis of our country, the Declaration of Independence, states "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We are all created in the image of God, being able to share in all of the unalienable rights. Racism can be against any group. However, the highest racial divide in this country is black/white. For over 240 years the black community had been slaves to the white community - what a standard to overcome! Many of these issues are evident yet today. It is hard to fathom, but there are groups who want to keep this division alive today. We have one ancestor - Jesus, one problem, sin, and one hope, Jesus. Look into your own heart and see not the skin issue but the sin issue , look up and see God's perspective, look out and build bridges so we can demonstrate the love of God to everyone. As a friend said so eloquently, "God, give me the courage to budge whenever you nudge me". Work today to end the prejudice surrounding you.
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