There is a place nestled within the sweet humid glory of south Alabama that holds a large chunk of my heart. It is called Wiregrass Christian Youth Camp and of all my years there this past summer’s session brought with it a young person who left me with one of the most profound thoughts I’ve ever had the privilege to lay ears upon.
Lexie one of the campers in my cabin was 12-years-old and she wanted to devour anything and everything she could wrap her mind around as quickly as possible. No amount of information was too much. She wanted to study the Bible so a group of counselors including myself had been meeting with her and a few other inquiring campers throughout the week. Her questions stretched us all. Besides it is most often that the teacher learns more than the student.
This was the case on this particular evening. Lexie’s mother had died when she was only 4 years old and her question was whether or not people will be able to recognize one another in Heaven. One of the counselors answered that regardless of whether we will be able to recognize one another Heaven will be perfect – we will be left wanting for nothing – so it really won’t matter either way. Other counselors nodded in agreement adding their thoughts. Then I decided to share mine.
I told Lexie that in addition to what the others had said maybe she should look at it this way: Most people view our human state as bodies that just so happen to have souls but instead we are souls that just so happen to live in bodies. When you look at things that way it makes it a little easier to let go of the concept of recognizing each other in human form after we die.
Lexie sat for a minute going over what I had said in her mind. After a rather lengthy silence she said “Well if more people realized that then we wouldn’t have things like racism. I could marry Tim (another camper in the room who was African American) and no one would think twice about it. There wouldn’t be so much fuss over Mexicans and immigration and all that. Wow it just makes so much sense. How could everybody miss that?”
If you have chills right now your reaction is the same as mine that night. Upon hearing Lexie’s words everyone sat in stunned silence. Not that I’ve ever by any means considered myself a racist person but to hear those words come out of her mouth – the humble pure understanding of a child – took the words from my tongue and put tears on my cheeks.
For that brief moment I felt like a parent. I felt like a parent whose young daughter had come needing help with her history homework baffled asking “Mom why did people do things like that to other people? How could they treat them that way? Are those the same people who thought of our laws too? What about ‘In God We Trust’? Does God look at people that way?”
What do you say? How do you reconcile those kinds of questions? While it’s an indescribably revolutionary step electing a black president doesn’t erase our history. How do you tell your children your students yourself that the very precepts principles and people you’ve trusted – people that claim to be Christians or at least to believe in God – don’t really believe in equality – at least that’s how it would seem.
The other counselors and I looked at each other then at Lexie. Somehow I managed to say simply “Yeah you’re right. You’re absolutely right Lexie. If you ever find the answer to that question let me know.”
