More Than a Good Read

A couple of months ago A few months ago A while ago, my daughter's future mother-in-law gave me a book to read. She was finished with it and wanted to pass it on.
While it took me a while to get around to reading it, I'm so glad I did. Because this book - in addition to the great story line - is filled with treasures of wisdom. One-liners, and sometimes entire paragraphs. As I read, I often found myself looking for my pen so I could underline the treasures I was finding. Like:

And I found out that sometimes we just have to accept the things we don't understand.

And:

Our limitation is God's opportunity.

But it was this one near the end that really grabbed me:

"Ever man should have the courage to stand up and face the enemy," I said, "'cause ever person that looks like a enemy on the outside ain't necessarily one on the inside. We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life."

Of course, this quote has extreme significance within the context of the story from which it came. BUT, I believe there are all kinds of Truth in that statement for you and me and the stories we're living in today. Because we all have perceived enemies. They may be neighbors, bosses, or colleagues. At times, we may even see our children or our spouses as enemies. They are the people with whom we disagree, who rub us the wrong way, whom we don't completely understand. We begin to think they are out to get us. Or at least want to make us miserable. But, We all has more in common than we think.
And, today, I want to encourage you to ask God to help you see the person inside. The one HE means for them to be. Ask Him to give you eyes to see like He sees, and a heart to love like He does. I pray you will have the courage to face the one(s) who seems dangerous to you today. May God's love through you have an eternal impact. (On both of you!)

And - in case you're super interested in this book now - it is called Same Kind of Different as Me. The authors are Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Annnnnnd, since I was blessed to receive this book from a friend, I want to bless someone else now. If you'd like my copy, just leave me a comment - along with a promise to keep passing the book around!
I'll pick a winner tomorrow night and get the book in the mail to you.