A church in a small town in Oregon recently sponsored a refugee family. The family – two parents and four children - was from a very hot and dry place, and so moving to rainy, cool Oregon was quite a change for them. This family needed everything - a place to live, furniture, clothes - because they left everything behind. The town they moved to isn’t very big, but it has a big heart. The people there believed whatever they did “to one of the least of these,” they did to Jesus, so they welcomed the new family with open arms. And the Oregonians learned something. They thought they were blessing this family, but instead, the Oregonians were being blessed. That sounds like a cliché, but it was true. Everyone was learning about another culture, another religion, another way of life. And you can bet those American kids who became friends with these former refugee kids now think about the world in a much different way. 

When we have personal experience with other cultures, we understand we are not the center of the world. We learn that other people think differently, but we are all the same: we are all human, created in the image and likeness of God. And we are all in need of a Savior. So, we need to experience the world, through travel or through new friends. Then we can show God’s love to these new global friends, by showing how Jesus can speak to their needs, whatever they may be.    

This is Luis Palau.