Running water? Glad that isn’t a true one. When I think of Nebraska my main stereotype is everybody is a corn farmer. 🙂 Which is a pleasant thought because I love corn and its byproducts. ha. I suppose each generation wipes out a little more of those stereotypes, but I do wish we could be quicker about it.

“unlove” – what an apt word. Thanks for sharing that via Amy Carmichael. You’re right that racism is still very prevelant among us, and whether it seems undercover or not often depends on which side of it we’re on. When I talk to my black friends, they see prejudice in a thousand more ways than I do because they are living it. Lord, have mercy on us all as we fight against this.

I also appreciate you bringing up the Good Samaritan, yes, one of our most oft-quoted parables. Yet also one we continue to need so much…

You’re honest, Beverley. I’m sure we all still have tinges of prejudice of some kind, hidden or otherwise. Maybe not always about skin color, but about something. Often times it’s about religion, sad to say. Yes, accepting each other is a most difficult job for all of us.

You’re definitely right that this problem is one for God to handle on the grand scale. We’re just to be accountable for the situations and people that we encounter each in our own circles and in ways those circles ripple out into the larger world. I really appreciated too that Darlene was so quick to say let’s pray. I was doing it in my mind, but it needed to be verbally spoken aloud over that area. Even though I barely knew the ladies that were volunteering that week, I feel we have this bond now that goes deep.

Oh, I love hearing these stories, Linda. Now that my daughter has graduated from Auburn, she’s looking for a teaching job. Her dream job is to work in a school with high-need kids. It sounds like your experience in DC was a positive one. That encourages me for her.

I’m so glad you felt the same reaction I did to reading “Just Mercy.” I still feel moved by the things he shared and I look at life a little differently now. Because Bryan Stevenson is based in Alabama (my state), I keep thinking there will be some way to integrate his message into circumstances around me. Having to leave that in God’s hands.

You have me humming “This Little Light of Mine” now. 🙂 So grateful God’s light can never go out and continues to light up the darkness.

I appreciate you sharing your experience, Marissa. You probably didn’t realize it at the time but growing up in a multi-shade neighborhood was such a great blessing to form your mind early on to not be prejudiced. You have a special voice now to speak into our lives from that beginning. Thanks for using it here.