B.J. Murrey - World Orphans, Central America

Ok, so there are 16 murders a day in Guatemala. So every 8 seconds a bus driver is robbed, assaulted, extorted, or worse. Do I feel unsafe? Not at all. Do I lock my doors when I drive? Yes.

I’m not sure what the statistics are exactly, but I recall Dallas being one of the top 10 murderous cities in the United States. Did I feel unsafe? Not at all. Did I lock my doors when I drove? Sometimes…

Maybe you see where I am going with this. I have been noticing how much I have been conditioned (though I hate to admit it) to live my life in fear of poor people & foreigners. Think for a second about the last time you encountered a native Spanish speaker who hardly spoke English – or maybe not at all. What do you recall about the way he dressed? The way he carried himself? The reaction you had when you recognized him as NOT the same color or nationality as you.

I would surmise to say that you had a bit of a sense of self-preservation come over you. I come to this conclusion because I too have had the same reaction at times. Yet, here I am in the middle of a country that I love, where I am the one who is the foreigner. I am the one who looks different and talks funny. I am the one who people take note of inordinately in the crowd.

Contemplating this makes me think about the reaction the woman at the well must have had when Jesus “condescended” to talk to her. Jesus was a Jew, and the woman a Samaritan. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, much less Jewish men with Samaritan women. So this woman who talked funny, who probably dressed funny, and might have even looked funny to a Jew, was the object of Christ’s affection. It’s amazing to me to note the joy with which the woman went away from that conversation. Now think about how when we Christians, the ambassadors of Christ, step out of our comfort zones and into the lives of others who are drastically different from us, can affect the lives of people all around us. After all, it’s often those who are drastically different from us that become the most significant to us, because we have so dulled our spiritual perception of the image of God in others.

As my good friend Jodi Vinson always reminds her friends “they are created in the image of God!”

…and she is so right! Make a point to connect with someone different from you this week, as an ambassador of Christ and as a fellow bearer of the Imago Dei.