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Key Bible Verse: Christ himself … broke down the wall of hostility that separated us (Ephesians 2:14). Bonus Reading: 1 John 3:14-16; 4:19-21

During my junior high years, I went through this phase in which I thought only white people mattered. There were very few Hispanic or black kids in my school and that, I thought, was just how it should be. Although my parents had always taught us to respect and accept everyone, for some reason I'd rejected their stance.

But half way through my sophomore year of high school, we moved. I entered a much larger school with an ethnically diverse student body. It didn't take long for me to make friends, but they weren't the ones I expected. The only kids who'd have anything to do with me were those whose skin color was different from mine. They reached out to me and protected me.

That changed my life forever. When I got home from school one day, I sobbed for several hours because I'd been so mean and hateful for so long for no reason. The people I hadn't liked were the people I most needed. They saved me from dropping out by reaching their hands out to me in friendship.

In [today's Key Bible Verse] God calls us to be friends with all. I now have a vision aligned with that call that includes ethnic diversity.

—Jacob McKee in Illinois

My Response: How has my growing-up environment shaped my ethnic perceptions?

Thought to Apply: All the people like us are we, and everyone else is they. —Rudyard Kipling (British journalist & author)

Adapted from Adapted from Relationships: A Mess Worth Making (New Growth Press, 2006) by permission. All rights reserved by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp and/or New Growth Press.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Lord, give me a fresh appreciation for the diverse richness of the Church you are forming.

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