I love your heart, Floyd. It’s a blessing that you started out young with a brother from a different mother. It makes a difference. Yes, everyone has a story; I’m thankful for storytellers like that you help us hear those stories. Keep telling them.

I grew up in southern CA. in the late sixties and it was a scary place to be. One of my best friends, that I didn’t know back then, grew up there too. As a true brother in Christ over the years we’ve had influences on the way one another thinks. It is the insecurities and pride that drive folks. We found out that we really are brothers from a different mother.

It really is all about the age old adage of not judging a book by its cover and the golden rule of Christ to treat others the way we would like to be treated. Every single person out there has a story to tell… just like us. Praying this country would see it that way. That will change everything.

I’ve got a lot of softening left to do, too, Laura. It’s so easy to be judgmental; it makes us feel better about ourselves without having to work on it. But yeah, it’s not the Jesus way. Perfect Love—oh, one day to be in His full presence and see what that looks like!

This is true for me, too, Kelly: “The more I listen, the more I hear and realize I’ve been deaf.” And I wonder how much more I’m still not hearing….

You’re right, June, that we aren’t to believe everything we hear…from any side of any issue. We have to consider the sources and always use discretion. We see a need for that every day as politicians spew so many words at us at this time of year. ha.

I love your heart to intentionally seek out conversations among black friends. It’s amazing the things we can learn if we take the time and heart to listen to each other.

But I will admit that I do not believe everything I see, hear and read from certain sources. Some of these sources, in my opinion, do more to divide us than to bring us together. They have their own agendas, which are far from the ways of Jesus.

I wholeheartedly agree that the church should lead when it comes to defeating racism. In fact, I can’t think of another part of society that could hope to be as successful. As Sharon said, she believes in racism because sin lurks in the human heart. It’s as simple and complex as that!

Kudos to you, Lisa, for being brave enough to “go there.” Every grace-filled conversation we can have brings us closer to understanding and closer to reconciliation. Blessings!

So interesting, Anita. We have very few (actually, I know of none, sadly) Native Americans in my circle of friends and acquaintances, so I wasn’t aware that they were treated with even greater discrimination than blacks. Wow. Sometimes it’s almost too much to think about. Yet that’s definitely the wrong attitude—we all need to become more aware of it, not less, so things can change. Thanks for sharing and opening my eyes a little bit wider again!

Ooh, I like what you’re saying, Trudy: “seek out the broken soul within.” That is exactly what Jesus did. Lord, greater vision please! Thank you for sharing this.