The Reunion in Dallas

For those who may be wondering, the reunion was FANTASTIC! We had 19 of us there in Dallas, and we hope for even more in 2007. As soon as I get a picture of the group saved on my hard-drive, I will get Keith Brenton or James Wiser to help this ignorant soul post it on this blog. This is not your mom's high school reunion crowd, in that we have folks from all over the world represented. We have folks from the Philippines, Haiti, India, Cuba and France. I believe everyone is an American citizen, but we represent one of the unique qualities of our nation.....our diversity. You will be sitting there hearing a conversation in English between two folks, and the next minute you realize they are now speaking French to each other! :)
They were probably talking about me and didn't want me to hear what they were saying.
Anyway, it was a wonderful couple of days with people that I love dearly. As I was driving the 6 hours back to Searcy by myself, I reflected on what makes this group of people so special to me. There are a LOT of things that make them special, but two things jumped out at me on the way home. First is their transparency. These people don't hide behind any kind of mask........they are just who they are for the whole group to see. I think they feel loved unconditionally, therefore there is no need for hiding anything. Do you know how refreshing that is? I think I might have been the LEAST transparent person there. Yes, that is sad, seeing that several of these people are NOT even believers. So why would a believer be one of the least transparent people there? I think you know the answer to that. When you are not accepted unless you are perfect..... in your doctrine and your life......you learn to fake it. The only other choice is to not be accepted, and we all run from rejection. So fake it till you make it rules the day in our "organized religion" world. A far cry from Jesus, huh? Ok, the second thing that jumped out at me was that these friends of mine are SO UNJUDGEMENTAL! That too was very refreshing!
As I had said in my post before I went down there, they will very passionately argue a point or position with each other, and when the discussion is over they will just hug each other like they might not ever see each other again....remember, not a fake hug, but a REAL hug. 2 minutes later they may be laughing with each other about something. They offer freedom to each other to differ.....on small things and big things. They know their love for each other is not based on what they agree on! Can you see how that would be refreshing? Duh! And no, these old friends and classmates of mine are NOT perfect. They carry a lot of baggage and garbage that I wish they didn't have. Some of them have probably rejected the Lord at some point in their life. But I am still praying for them and I am still loving each and every one of them! Because they are my people, my family, my friends from Monrovia, Liberia...West Africa from 1970 till 1972. And I wouldn't trade them or give them up for the world.

See ya in 07, Liberian family! :)