...Will Be Set Apart (I'm not Mexican)

This past weekend my family and I went to Lake Ouchita near Hot Springs, Arkansas, along with some friends of my sister's and parents. We stayed in a cabin this time but would join the others periodically throughout the day and then at supper around the campfire. During one of my conversations, I was talking about the adoption of my children which is a very sweet and tender spot for me because I'm humbled at how God worked in my life to bring these creatures into it. Pearce was sitting in his daddy's lap across the fire when he overheard me say he was Mexican which is a beautiful thing to be in my book...OH, if only I had a little of his coloring! From across the fire Pearce yells, "I'm not Mexican!" Now, if you've ever seen my son, there is no denying his heritage. He has this head-full of jet black hair. The darkest eyes known to man framed in long, dark lashes, and he has the prettiest skin you've ever seen. And he has a Mongolian spot on his cute, tiny hiney.

We try our best to keep people in his life that are hispanic. They may not all be Mexican, but they are bilingual, hard-working people whom we love and who loves our family. There isn't a huge Hispanic population here, so we do things with our Spanish Mission Church. I want him to at least know about his culture. Most of the time he embraces it. This is only the second time he has claimed not to be Mexican.

We are proud of his nationality, his biological culture, but there are times when he doesn't want to be different, and truthfully, we don't focus on it. He's just such a good-looking kid, and that has sometimes been his saving grace which allowed him to live to the next day. (You mommas know what I'm talking about)

How often do we just want to blend in and be like everyone else? Mediocrity? And I'm not just talking about being Christian in a non-Christian environment. I'm talking about being a growing Christian versus a stagnant, close-minded Christian. I'm talking about being satisfied with just going to church once maybe twice a week and never open your Bible during the week unless you're in crisis mode. I'm talking about being luke-warm versus on fire and having a passion to serve and to love on others as Christ demands and gave us examples to be and do. What if when Jesus was washing the disciples' feet, He looked up at them and said, "That will be .25 cents"?

It's time Christians get off their big, backsides and served as our Lord served on their hands and knees, touching those who are sick, walking with the unlovely. It's time we loved on people and got beyond prideful selves because there will come a day when we all will have to answer the question, "What have you done with my Son?" And there won't be anyone standing besides our mediocre behinds to blame things on. We have to take ownership of our faith and our relationship with God. Get out of our comfort zones. Get out of our comfortable seats. I promise you, women's ministry is not my comfort zone. Teaching an all women's Bible study Sunday school class is NOT in my comfort zone -- do you know we haven't had one Sunday where one of the ladies doesn't end up needing a tissue? (Do you remember I work in a primarily male-oriented field in fraud investigations? These guys don't cry.) I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back. What I'm saying is that if I can do this following God's lead, then by the grace of God SO CAN YOU!

Don't blend in. Be dynamic. Be the original God made you to be. Be the growing, godly woman He desires you to be. PUT YO' BIG GIRL PANTIES ON! We are to be as a city set on a hill, a beacon in the night, salt of the Earth. We are to be set apart, different so that others may be drawn to the Lord Almighty. So, GET OUT THERE! SERVE!

His Daughter,

Kristy