From Desertcities.net
Aliens and Strangers
By Cherie Riffel
Aug 29, 2004 - 1:21:00 PM
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16
My inbox is often a repository for political incorrectness. Often I am amazed at the level of hate expressed in these documents. Many years ago, when e-mail was still a novelty to me, I read every word of them. Today, if I sense hate in the first sentence, I hit the delete button and move on to kinder, gentler e-mails.
Nowhere is this more distasteful than in those documents describing the American hatred of non-Americans in vivid detail. Oh, the list of faults is lengthy. They don’t speak English, they abuse the social welfare system, they seek rights they don’t deserve, etc.
But unless you are a Native American, your family arrived on America’s shores as foreigners. Probably they stood in long lines at Ellis Island, wondering where they were going to sleep, what they were going to eat, where they were going to work.
Eventually, they became Americans. And it’s a good thing they did or you and I wouldn’t be here today. My great-grandfather from Germany arrived at Ellis Island in the late 1870’s. He was only a toddler. But he grew up, settled in Kansas and farmed hundreds of acres of wheat. Who ate that wheat? You guessed it. Americans and non-Americans alike.
He was a hard-working, God-fearing man. He took pride in a job well done and taught his children and grand-children to do the same. My father looked forward to spending summers on his grandfather’s wheat farm. During those summers, my great-grandfather taught my Dad about life, how to treat people, how to be generous, how to live a Christian lifestyle in a wicked world.
Our country owes a great debt to foreigners like my great-grandfather. Without their legacy of Old World values, this country would be just another blob on the globe. Yet today it is the richest and most powerful nation on the planet. Who wouldn’t want to live here? It’s the best country in the world.
Perhaps in a Christian context, we can find balance on this issue. Instead of pointing our fingers at those who have an accent (by the way, we all have accents), it would behoove us to remember that we as Christians will always be aliens and strangers on this planet. This is our temporary home. We are here on a work Visa.
We will never fit in to the worldly mold. Our talk is more pure. Our work ethics are more honorable. Our goals are more heavenly. Our actions are more selfless.
This world is not our home, we’re just passing through. We are merely strangers and pilgrims here. And while we’re here, our work is to distribute the bread of life to everyone, regardless of their ethnic origin.
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