In the past couple of months, as Jeff and I have embarked on a new journey back to our home state of Wisconsin, I've been thinking about the importance of family. I know that this move is God centered and a call to a new faith family... which has welcomed us with open arms. Their hospitality has been to biblical proportion with their housing us for almost 6 weeks until we could close on a home in the area. Yes, we have been warmly welcomed by this new faith family...which in reality was, is and always will be our 'family'... just as Petersburg, Louisville, Winneconne, and Winchester have been, currently are, and always will be our family.
You see, while we may be closer to our blood-line with children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, etc. we are always with 'family' when we are followers of Jesus. Our neighbor, our co-worker, the traffic cop (okay, we don't have many of those any more, but you get the idea) are all very possibly our 'family' ... our faith family.
So, if they are our family, I wonder... do we treat them as such? Do we forgive them as easily? Do we give the grace we would allow a sibling or a child? Are we quick with life sustaining words of love, or quick to criticize actions we don't (and can't) understand?
And what about others of different faiths? Aren't they a part of our human family? And how does our treatment of them reflect on our family of faith and Christ's call on our lives?
I wonder what our world could be like if we could see a member of our family in the eyes of someone we have just met?
I know... it's a lot of pondering. But what else does one do when unpacking boxes?
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