We have entered quite a scary chapter in American History. I do not need to go too far into politics to elaborate on what it is I mean by that. There is nothing to be gained by wondering how it is that we came to let the man who currently occupies the Oval Office get to be in that office. What's done is done, and he is moving forward with his intentions now, so as for you and I, we must stand. Stand for what is good and what is right, and stand up for those who have been made to feel as though they are standing alone in a very dark hour. Above all, stand for love. More than protesting, let us pray. More than marching, walk alongside your fellow woman and your fellow man in everyday life. Let your words and your actions show love.
When I think of all the beautiful people I have encountered in my life, people with roots, family, and heritages from all over the world, I am so grateful for the way God made each of one them and for the opportunity that He granted me to know them. I am in awe of a Creator who thought to make so many shades of people with the same color blood running through their veins, people who speak so many languages to express the same love and occupy so many lands on the very same earth. He created each of us with all these diverse and beautiful details, which we commonly refer to as differences, and loves us all the same. As a believer, I know that I too am called to love us all the same. I do not find that so difficult to do, and I am still too often astonished at how others do.
To those of you beautiful people presently affected directly or indirectly by the new circumstances our President has brought about, please know that I stand with you, and welcome you with open arms into my country. I welcome you into my school and my church, and my home. I welcome you with your lovely traditions and culture. I welcome all the things that you could teach me and share with me. I welcome you as you are and I welcome the way that God can allow us to help one another to be better fellow human beings. I hope and pray for your safety here and abroad.
If you somehow find that you remain largely unaffected by everything that is going on, please try to imagine how you might feel if the roles were reversed. Imagine if you left your country one day and could not return the next, simply because you were visiting the wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine if you were seeking refuge and found that you were turned away because of your race or your religion. Imagine if you were prepared to uproot your life and pledge your allegiance to a country that suddenly denied you entry simply because of your place of birth. Imagine if you felt like your President hated you because of your race or your faith.
To those of you who profess to share my faith, and somehow find it acceptable to turn away men and women seeking shelter in this land that God has blessed us to live in, I urge you to reconsider your position. God asks us to love our neighbors as ourselves and reminds us to see Him in every man, woman, and child. Perhaps you believe that the measures our President is taking are in the interest of our safety. I would be so bold as to ask you whether or not you really trust God. I do not have enough wisdom or Biblical knowledge to say that God asks us to open our arms even at the expense of our safety, but I can say with confidence that the Bible shows us time and time again that God asked his people to risk their lives and even the lives of their loved ones and trust him and obey him still. Jesus dying on the cross is the epitome of that trust and obedience. This is easier said than done, but we ought to ask God to strengthen our faith to the point that if the time should ever come, we would be able to demonstrate that trust.
To those of you who are out protesting and marching, I hope that you remember to do it in the right way so that no one might discredit your cause or your voice. To those of you like me, who have yet to protest or march, or take actions such as these, but are in fact equally invested in seeing change come about, know that you are not alone, and that if your quiet words and actions impact just one person, you have in fact made a difference, so keep it up. To everyone of us doing our part to make sure that every member of the human race is treated with kindness and dignity and every other type of goodness that we can extend to one another, please do not lose courage.