A Colorful Family | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: A Colorful Family | Previous Challenge Entry
By Chris Stanley
12/09/09
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Looking at the world around, one can vividly see every color in God’s amazing piece of art we tend to refer to as “Earth.” From the fluorescent colored fish in its vast oceans, to the various color tones in the sky, and every shade in between, we must admit that we live in a colorful world. Not only do we see shades of red, green, blue, and yellow, etc. in places we wander but color is also seen in people. We are reminded of that old familiar song that we all sang in Sunday School. The song we sang just before the Bible story, which was told by way of the felt board, called “Jesus Loves All the Little Children.” The lyrics went something like “Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Black and yellow, red and white. They're all precious in His sight…” Skin comes in just as many shades as there are colors in the rainbow with, just as the song says, “black and yellow, red and white.“

The song became very personal to me growing up. My parents, when I was about five years old, made the decision to take in foster children. The first child they took in that was not biologically theirs was African American and my parents have continued taking in children, of seemingly every ethnicity, ever since. In fact twenty-three is the number of children my mother would lay “claim” that they are her kids. That is twenty-three in addition to her five biological children and also in addition to the five other children she adopted. Within our family there is no distinction between one of us that is a “biological” child, which we affectionately refer to as “Home Grown”, and one that was “adopted,” which we affectionately refer to as “Hand Picked.” We are all equal and treated fairly; but our family photos are certainly full of color. My parents always made it a point that we study and learn from all the different backgrounds and ethnicities that are represented in our family, but one point was always made exceptionally clear: we are one “family” not a gathering of people living under the same roof.

My parents would be the first to admit that they are not the perfect parents. I am confident that if they had the opportunity there would be many situations they would handle differently. However, I must tell you that, even though I may sound bias, my family is a small picture of the family of God. We are so diverse. I have siblings that are African American, Caucasian, Jamaican, and so many other backgrounds. Yet we all live as one family unit. Imagine the diversity in God’s family. Every child is unique. Every child has a definitive role within the family unit. Every child is loved with an equal, undeserving love.

I cannot help but think how awesome and great God truly is. The same paint brush that created Mt. Everest painted the Dead Sea, the vast oceans of the world, and even carved the Grand Canyon. That paint brush even created each and every member of my family and only His paint brush could paint such a colorful family. God is simply: absolutely amazing.

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