People are People?

I know that my wife thinks I plan too much at the same time and at times she is totally correct. We did the snow trip on Saturday and it just turned out that it was also the Superbowl the following Sunday. Do you do our usual bbq at our house and not do church? We were also going to invite the Hispanic Church family to join us. Yeah, I was crazy but it was worth it. It was tragic that my team, the Steelers, didn’t win. I will have to pay my bets off between Chansey and Matthew.

The real point of this is to think a little about having a diverse group over at my house and just watching how everyone interacts. I didn’t know whether Pastor Pablo might react to some watching the Football Game. Yet, I know that even in Lupe’s home he’ll watch movies of soccer games. So we went from having just a few at our house to all of a sudden having like 40 plus. We were blessed to have a large variety of food to offer our guests. It was fascinating to watch a couple of the Hispanic moms interact with one of my African American Grandmas, Doris. Then there was Terrance trying to talk with these moms. It was fun watching everyone connect in a very unlikely setting.

It is exciting and scary to see something I have prayed about over the last four years start to unfold. Is it really possible for Mexicans, Blacks and Whites to hang out together, work together and worship together? I am use to the drama of what happens when everyone is out only for themselves. We are slowly learning how to live better together. It was great hearing everyone’s story and ultimately see that we have lots in common. Our struggles are usual the same, family, money, work, church and the brokenness around us.

I was concerned that the loudness of the teens watching the game would overwhelm some but we ended up eating outside and had a craft table for some of the kids. I know that Pastor Pablo doesn’t understand how I am able to do what I do. So I tried to explain how my network of friends, family and churches enable us, at least at present to make New City – Barrio Nuevo happen. I explained that if I have to get a job and juggle everything I would do that. It is easy for me to say this but I end up job hunting or going back to doing concrete I am up for it.

It was fun watching our Terrance attempt to start a fire. I took over for a few minutes to help him understand that you just didn’t throw all of the logs into the fire pit on top of each other and expect one match to start them. So we wadded up newspaper, put the logs into a tepee and then lit the paper. It wasn’t too long before he was dancing on the fire pit ring with Toniel. Pastor Pablo had to leave to get his son who was working. His wife and another friend chose to help in the kitchen so we talked a little bit more. We walk them out to their large SUV, which Anne was coveting and said our good nights or Buenos Noches.

This was a great night that brought an end to our long but worthwhile weekend. It was great being able to continue to make our friendship with Pastor Pablo a success and see God build trust with people that normally wouldn’t be friends and definitely wouldn’t be working together. I hope and pray that we grow together in our adventure of seeing the kingdom of God unfold where the gospel isn’t about whether you are white, black or brown. I know that in heaven Jesus isn’t going to look like me.