God Demands Inclusive Love… Hello Hump Day readers. Al and I are done for this very long and tiring week at the campground. It was like every day was the 4th of July, 69 sites constantly filled and a lot of folks who were not happy because they didn’t make reservations. Some of our people who have come for many years just think that we’ll have something for them so they come in demanding a site and when we have to say “we are filled” they are mad and tell me “oh years ago…” and I cut them right off and tell them those years are gone! Some days there are times where I wonder “where is your love” and why take it out on us if you didn’t make your favorite camping site-yikes!!

This week we had some Muslim families. They were kind, the kids were really funny but my heart kind of broke for the mama’s who did everything—and I mean everything, the men do NOTHING except when they go out the men drive, no women can drive. I enjoyed some of the ladies and we laughed and shared and I learned a lot from them. Those times of different ways from around our world can be difficult, but when I talked with them and also with some of the men, I found a thankfulness, laughter, and a back-and-forth about each other.

One problem hit me a lot though, the people around them. Some said “they don’t belong here” and another one was “how stupid they are with their ridiculous clothing for those women and the grub they eat.” There was more, but one couple that were right across from them decided to play with the kids and talk to these folks and she learned a lot about where they came from and how their world is. And you know what, it is hard, tough, and they are often have words like: you pigs, sow, ugly, heathen, dirty (believe me that is not true they are very clean) and the worst one that almost made my punch somebody in the nose—they said “these are Satan’s filthy children, we should shoot them until there are no more.” You can imagine how hard it was for me to not smack someone—Grrrr!

Remember the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman? She was drawing water and Jesus asked her to give him a drink. What did she say to him? “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” [John 4:7-9]

Can you imagine how shocking that conversation was? Jewish men never spoke to Samaritan women—ever. It just wasn’t done. Yet, here we see Jesus transcending every cultural barrier to reach out to someone society had written off. Jesus shows us that the Gospel doesn’t pick favorites, instead it reaches out to the marginalized and ostracized in every sector of society.

Jesus was inclusive and loving to the unseen and unknown. He saw past cultural prejudices and social expectations to reach a person who desperately needed hope. I just could imagine Jesus this last week sharing and loving with those Muslim families!

We know that we are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet no matter who the person is. As I thought about that I decided that there’s no better time to start than right now. And guess what, a new family came down a couple days later. They were from Chacho, which by the way our government wants to tear down this incredible place and boot those folks out. Well, I had a great time with them, trying to learn their dialect, and of course, the food they put out for everyone. Now that is LOVE, they didn’t care about our skin and where we came from, they just loved being together with us all. So, ask yourself this: “Who in your world needs to experience Jesus’ inclusive love through you?” Try it, you will be blessed beyond what you would ever think of! AMEN.