Do you really know your skin?
How many times have you made comments to another about their heritage? How many times have you knowingly called someone a name? If you sit and think upon it I believe our eyes can be open to just how many times we have made a racial slur. How many times have we looked in the eyes of another and judged them for the color of their skin? Each heritage has names that sting with each word spoken to the heart. You, as I thought may sit comfortably back and say," I am not prejudice at all." But our words and our actions speak otherwise. But I must ask how many times have you been on the phone with customer service and asked,"Are you blind, what do you mean you can't find it? Only to never know the person on the other end of the phone has never seen a sunset. How many times have you said to another,"What, are your legs broken, can't you walk and get it?" Only to never know that person has never ran a race. Racism isn't just about color, its about who we are, its about everything in us. We sterotype everyone from race to religion, to rich and poor, to which state, city or county we live in. We even look to people on their size and say to ourselves,"She is over weight, she must eat everything in sight" to "She is so skinny, she must vomit everytime she eats." We see a poor man without and thing that he must be lazy, only to never know he is out looking for a job daily. We make comments about the wealty woman who has it all, only to never find out how much she gives away in secret. I was at a football game with my dad while he had no hair from his chemo treatments, only to have a man laughing at him saying,"Who are you trying to be, Kojack?" Never knowing my dad would die in a few short months of cancer. Our words and senseless actions make an impact on all we meet. Would it be a shock to know that Jesus was not white? He was a Jew, living in the Middle East. Jesus didn't see color then no more than He does now. The blood running through us all is the same blood that ran through Jesus, and His descendants. We are all connected through our Creator. To hear others tell jokes about race, creed, or religion does not say much about our character. It does not bring out the best in a man. There is a new song out today and the chorus says,"Shake your hips and do the Helen Keller." This is a disgrace to utter those words about a woman who overcame adversities and served the Lord her whole life. Fanny Crosby, one of the most renowned hymn writers of all time was blind, bring glory to God. When we sit back and say we are not prejudice wef are only lying to ourselves. We are all prejudice about something or someone. It shows in our words and actions daily. Our country is the land of the free, home of the brave. Our country has been built by others coming here for freedom, only to take those same freedoms away from the Indians who walked this land long before anyone who came here by ship. No one knows the pain that they felt unless they too were here and walked those steps and lived that life themselves. Today we can walk the Trail of Tears, the road they once walked losing all they had. No one understands slavery unless they too walked in those shoes themselves. I can not understand the pain those carried from the Civil War to World War 1, to Vietnam to Iraq. I have not walked those steps. Sadly, if we are hurt by one, we turn it into all. From New York to L.A to Georgia up to Minnesota we all speak different dialects and there is a joke about each dialect and each place we live. Isn't it time to lay aside anger, resentment and prejudices? Shouldn't we be celebrating life daily? Life is so precious and short, we spend our lives caught up in the media shots that they want us to see, instead of looking to our neighbor and seeing the good in them. Why not see the differences in others as God's beautiful creation? I look back at at a time long ago when I was just a baby and I am horrified to know that there was such separation.I cannot understand a black woman not being able to use the same bathroom as a white woman, to not eat inside a diner, or to give up your seat for a white woman. My mom and dad both grew up very poor, picking cotton as they grew up. Why does the farmer think the city man is all about himself, and the city man think the farmer has no brains? Whether you are in line at Nordstroms or Walmart, your still in line. There is one heaven and one hell for all of us. The only entrance to heaven is through our Savior Jesus Christ who bled and died for our filthy sins. To walk with Him we must put down our anger, stop the madness of words and actions against one another and open our eyes to the Creator of us all. He created us in His image, to make fun of , to say racist words is to tell God, "You made a pile of junk!" God doesn't make junk, He creates beauty in us all. As we are driving, shopping, walking through the park or at work, we make assumptions and judgements about people we don't even know. We have no clue of the shoes they are walking in or where they came from. We don't know the burdens they carry daily. We have no idea of how their day began, or just how long their night was. Life is to be celebrated not destroyed by words and looks that cut to the heart of a man. What we do today effects our children of tomorrow. What legacy do we want to leave behind us? One of hate, or one of love filled with the grace of Christ? Standing up for your neighbor, laying your life down for another, giving a helping hand has nothing to do with color, creed or religion. It has all to do with the heart of man. We fear what we do not know, and we know what we don't understand. We always want others to treat us with respect. What about treating others as we want to be treated? What about justice for all not just some. May we find grace in our hearts, and within that same grace that Christ gives us so freely, may we give it openly to those who walk through our path of life daily. Before we change the world, we must change ourselves. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the despensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsil of His will, that he who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:7-14
How many times have you made comments to another about their heritage? How many times have you knowingly called someone a name? If you sit and think upon it I believe our eyes can be open to just how many times we have made a racial slur. How many times have we looked in the eyes of another and judged them for the color of their skin? Each heritage has names that sting with each word spoken to the heart. You, as I thought may sit comfortably back and say," I am not prejudice at all." But our words and our actions speak otherwise. But I must ask how many times have you been on the phone with customer service and asked,"Are you blind, what do you mean you can't find it? Only to never know the person on the other end of the phone has never seen a sunset. How many times have you said to another,"What, are your legs broken, can't you walk and get it?" Only to never know that person has never ran a race. Racism isn't just about color, its about who we are, its about everything in us. We sterotype everyone from race to religion, to rich and poor, to which state, city or county we live in. We even look to people on their size and say to ourselves,"She is over weight, she must eat everything in sight" to "She is so skinny, she must vomit everytime she eats." We see a poor man without and thing that he must be lazy, only to never know he is out looking for a job daily. We make comments about the wealty woman who has it all, only to never find out how much she gives away in secret. I was at a football game with my dad while he had no hair from his chemo treatments, only to have a man laughing at him saying,"Who are you trying to be, Kojack?" Never knowing my dad would die in a few short months of cancer. Our words and senseless actions make an impact on all we meet. Would it be a shock to know that Jesus was not white? He was a Jew, living in the Middle East. Jesus didn't see color then no more than He does now. The blood running through us all is the same blood that ran through Jesus, and His descendants. We are all connected through our Creator. To hear others tell jokes about race, creed, or religion does not say much about our character. It does not bring out the best in a man. There is a new song out today and the chorus says,"Shake your hips and do the Helen Keller." This is a disgrace to utter those words about a woman who overcame adversities and served the Lord her whole life. Fanny Crosby, one of the most renowned hymn writers of all time was blind, bring glory to God. When we sit back and say we are not prejudice wef are only lying to ourselves. We are all prejudice about something or someone. It shows in our words and actions daily. Our country is the land of the free, home of the brave. Our country has been built by others coming here for freedom, only to take those same freedoms away from the Indians who walked this land long before anyone who came here by ship. No one knows the pain that they felt unless they too were here and walked those steps and lived that life themselves. Today we can walk the Trail of Tears, the road they once walked losing all they had. No one understands slavery unless they too walked in those shoes themselves. I can not understand the pain those carried from the Civil War to World War 1, to Vietnam to Iraq. I have not walked those steps. Sadly, if we are hurt by one, we turn it into all. From New York to L.A to Georgia up to Minnesota we all speak different dialects and there is a joke about each dialect and each place we live. Isn't it time to lay aside anger, resentment and prejudices? Shouldn't we be celebrating life daily? Life is so precious and short, we spend our lives caught up in the media shots that they want us to see, instead of looking to our neighbor and seeing the good in them. Why not see the differences in others as God's beautiful creation? I look back at at a time long ago when I was just a baby and I am horrified to know that there was such separation.I cannot understand a black woman not being able to use the same bathroom as a white woman, to not eat inside a diner, or to give up your seat for a white woman. My mom and dad both grew up very poor, picking cotton as they grew up. Why does the farmer think the city man is all about himself, and the city man think the farmer has no brains? Whether you are in line at Nordstroms or Walmart, your still in line. There is one heaven and one hell for all of us. The only entrance to heaven is through our Savior Jesus Christ who bled and died for our filthy sins. To walk with Him we must put down our anger, stop the madness of words and actions against one another and open our eyes to the Creator of us all. He created us in His image, to make fun of , to say racist words is to tell God, "You made a pile of junk!" God doesn't make junk, He creates beauty in us all. As we are driving, shopping, walking through the park or at work, we make assumptions and judgements about people we don't even know. We have no clue of the shoes they are walking in or where they came from. We don't know the burdens they carry daily. We have no idea of how their day began, or just how long their night was. Life is to be celebrated not destroyed by words and looks that cut to the heart of a man. What we do today effects our children of tomorrow. What legacy do we want to leave behind us? One of hate, or one of love filled with the grace of Christ? Standing up for your neighbor, laying your life down for another, giving a helping hand has nothing to do with color, creed or religion. It has all to do with the heart of man. We fear what we do not know, and we know what we don't understand. We always want others to treat us with respect. What about treating others as we want to be treated? What about justice for all not just some. May we find grace in our hearts, and within that same grace that Christ gives us so freely, may we give it openly to those who walk through our path of life daily. Before we change the world, we must change ourselves. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the despensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsil of His will, that he who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:7-14
