Binding the races together

Hey all,

I know it's been a while since my last post. I have just been having an amazing start to the semester at JMU.

In the last week the topic of race has been on the front pages of newspapers, for those still in business, with the historic inauguration of President Barrack Obama. It is not only a great day for the African-American community, but also for all Americans. I am a conservative and voted for John McCain, but I can still stay that last Tuesday was a very special day. Regardless of his political views, I believe he has the tools to be a very good president.

It has started to make me think about the issue of race. I know that talking about this subject can be dangerous, but I'll just talk on my experience. Two events in the last week have highlighted how the common bond of knowing Jesus Christ in a deep way has created an undeniable bond.

The first was with one of my housemates and best friends Dominique Scott. We met freshman year as we were in the same InterVarsity Small group. We traveled to the Dominican Republic and lived in the same hall last year. Now we are housemates at the "JOLT House." In many ways we came from different places. He is from Hampton Roads, VA. I am from the D.C. area. He is black. I am white. He loves the Cowboys, I love the Packers.

This in Nique and I in the Dominican Republic on a service/mission trip two years ago.

But what truly matters is what binds us together. We have a bond like brothers that runs stronger than few. On Martin Luther King day we had an hour talk in his room followed by a 20 min prayer. There is not question that our bond in Christ is what holds our friendship strong. It's like a language that we both know. I believe we are all children of God. The friendship of Nique and is just a byproduct of that.


Another example was last night when I went to a Chris Tomlin concert, who is a popular Christian artist, with my Mom in Baltimore, MD. In this concert there were African-Americans, Asians, Latinos, white, and everything in between standing all around me. Seeing the joy on the faces during the concert, it just brought up the point that we all love and worship the same God. As Tomlin sang the song "Amazing Grace," it's cool to think that it's the same God that the slaves on those Baltimore dock decades ago cried out to in bondage and it's the same God in 2009. It does not matter where we came from, what our skin looks like, etc. The fact is again that we are all children to the same father.

So in a week celebrating MLK's birthday. In a week celebrating Obama being the first black US President, I am reminded that we all have the same father. The same father that defines out life. That's a pretty cool thing. In a similar way, we may not all be democrats, we may not all be republicans, we may not all believe in abortion, but we all are Americans. Let's find our commonalities rather than our differences. More importantly, let's find our true father.