“Is crossing the road towards a beloved Other risky? Yes. Inconvenient? Terribly. Uncomfortable? Absolutely. If you leave your car parked on the other side for more than two hours, it can even get costly. And yet crossing the road to meet the stranger is the way we walk when we study and track a d trail- when we follow- the person of Jesus.”

Over the years I, like my friend Margo who wrote the book this quote comes from, have come to the conclusion that Jesus was a ‘road-crosser.’ He loved the unlovable, the neglected, the marginalized, the immigrant, the forgotten, the different and the invisible ‘others’ that live throughout our communities.

John McCain is a good friend of my dad’s. Dad and John are different. Their friendship is the perfect example of what I’m getting at here. John is a tall African American man who assists a lively Southern Baptist church right around the corner from my parent’s namely white, non-quite-so-lively- Prysbyterian church in Downtown Durham. The two men have fostered a relationship by getting meals together, taking uncomfortable yet intentional steps to visit each other’s churches and even planning a join men’s retreat that mixed the two congregations and their two cultures. When John showed up at our doorstep this morning with a few members of his congregation, two asian women and a boom-box, I could almost here God saying ‘This is going to be good. This is my kingdom.’

Lily and her daughter Sunshine are from China. They are third and fourth generation opera singers that found there way to St. John’s Baptist a few weeks ago. After hearing them sing at church on Sunday John asked them if they would mind sharing their gift with a few special friends via Caroling. They came all the way to our house- inconveniently located across town- to sing to us and tell us that God loved us. Sunshine and I are different. She is from China, I am from well, here. She speaks Manderin and Cantonese, I speak Spanish. Her culture is respectful and quite, mine is quite obnoxious and loud. What I did not expect when God brought some of his beloved ‘others’ right into my home is that despite our differences we would also become almost immediate friends! Would I have ever seen Sunshine and ‘crossed the street’ to say hello? Probably not. Would I have ever found out that we both studied Economics, we both love coffee or that she and her mom are actually blackbelt Karate instructors!? Nope.

Is loving someone who speaks a different language or eats different food or wears different clothes uncomfortable? Sometimes Awkward? Usually. Life-giving? Definitly.

Just catch this picture for a second: John McCain, my family as well as the large family of Australians that are visiting us for the holidays (Oh yea did I forget to mention that!) sitting on the couch in my living room listening to Sunshine and her mom belt out Ave Maria and songs from the Chinese Opera for their audience of 12.

I have come to love the street-crossing life and yet I am continually humbled to look out my window and see people crossing over so many levels of social boundaries to arrive on my front door step. If you're not quite sure you believe me check out this picture of sunshine's moves!