Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

29 People will come from east and west
and north and south, and will take their
places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
Luke 13:29 (Today's New International Version)

Reflection:

Now wait a minute, this can't be right.

You all take a break for a minute, I'll be right
back, I've got to check my Bible about this
verse because this Just Can't Be Right!

   Well I'm back and sure enough I copied
this verse correctly.  I guess I might be
taking my place in heaven next to a Muslim.
Now wouldn't that be the ultimate joke on me.
I might be in heaven with a Muslim.  And here
all this time I was told to hate them because
they hate me and want to see me dead. If this
is not the case, "What am I going to do?"

Well this is what I have decided to do about
Muslims.

I am going to educate myself about Muslims
and their faith.  That won't be hard I have the
Internet.

I'm going to "respect" and "engage" my Muslim
neighbors.

I'm going to seek to have a relationship with
Muslims and talk with them about their faith.

I'm going to be honest with my Muslim
neighbors and learn to trust them.

My ultimate goal is to share my life and faith
with my Muslim brothers and sisters as they
share with me. The outcome, of all this, is
to love one another.  I can't do this if I hate
and fear them.  WOULD JESUS WANT
ANYTHING LESS?

I THINK NOT!

Quote:

"I still believe that people are really good at
heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a
foundation consisting of confusion, misery
and death....If I look up to the heavens, I
think it will all come right, that this cruelty
too will end, and that peace and tranquility
will return again."
Anne Frank Diarist, Holocaust Victim
(1929-1945)

Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . . hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
Where there is sadness . . . joy
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled . . . as to console
To be understood . . . as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love
For it is in giving . . . that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . . that we are born to eternal life.
Saint Francis of Assisi