The Fence

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV)

Life is, what it is. God’s plan is outside our understanding. The book and movie “The Shack” made me think about the universality of God the Trinity. There is no separate lesson for the rich and the poor, the Middle Easterner or the Caucasian, the Black or the Asian. God loves everyone the same and everyone is welcome. We get into trouble when we start separating ourselves from the rest of the world, aligning our thinking with like-minded folks and begin to believe we’re more “in” with God than those who worship and think different.

There is a religion joke about the guy who dies and goes to Heaven. St. Peter is giving him a tour of the place and the new guy is duly impressed, everything is spectacular, far better than he could ever have imagined. In the tour, they keep going by a high fence with locked gates. The guy says to St. Peter, “I didn’t know there were fences in Heaven. What’s back there?” St. Peter smiles and shakes his head. “That’s where we keep the Catholics; they think they’re the only ones here.”

You could put just about any religion following the words “…where we keep the… ” When we believe we’re better than the next man, woman or faith practice at any level, we lose site of God’s message. God looks beyond the surface; God looks at our hearts.

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