Book report

Today’s devotion is about transformation. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I read two books in the last few days on that topic. If you haven’t read Same Kind of Different as Me, go get yourself a copy and read it. Be prepared to cry like a small child. (Which makes things very awkward for the person beside you on an airplane, FYI.) The other book I read was What is the What, which is about the plight of Sudanese refugees. Having met a couple of Sudanese refugees at my church several years ago, I’m now saddened by the fact that I didn’t reach out to them more, to try to get to know them and their stories. According to that book, those people have been through a literal hell on earth, and I’m sorry I didn’t know it when I met those two men.

The gentlemen in Same Kind of Different as Me allowed the love of Christ (shown by others) to transform them, permanently. A rich guy, at the prompting of his wife, reached out to a scary homeless man. The two couldn’t have been more different. But their unlikely friendship brought out the best in each other, teaching them both to trust, to rely on others, and to love.

While reading about the transformation of the guys in these two books, I came away from reading them with the stark realization that I jump to conclusions about people. I don’t know their stories. I don’t take the time to really find out about why people act the way they do. Especially if they’re dirty, smelly, or look really different from me. And I would like to change that. I can’t promise that I’ll spend hours on the street getting to know the homeless guys who hang out there, but I can promise that I will be less hasty to jump to conclusions about how they got there. I won’t be as quick to jump to conclusions about a girl simply based on the way she’s dressed. I’ll be a bit slower to assume things about someone just because they speak a certain way.

We all have a story. Are you taking the time to know the stories of the people around you? Are you allowing Christ to transform your own life so that you can point to Him when people want to know your story?