As the old children’s song puts it, “Red and Yellow, Black and White, All are precious in His sight…”

My 16 year old daughter went to birthday party for a friend. As I drove her and two friends to the party the girls chatted and laughed in the back seat. I dropped them at the site of the event and watched her and her friends stream in. Then it struck me. How rich the differences in these kids.

Last month I was in India. For 10 days, everyone I saw (except the guy in the mirror) looked like they were Indian. The month before, I was in Guatemala. Again, all looked Central American. When I am in Nigeria or Liberia or the Congo there is no one I see that looks like me (good thing, you say)… or like an Indian or a Guatemalan or Japanese.

The population in virtually all of the 27 countries in which we work (and in most of the world) is remarkably homogenous.

I remember standing in Narita Airport in Tokyo, crowding up (it’s like lining up but different) for my 747 flight back to the US. I had just flown from Sri Lanka to Singapore to Indonesia to Japan so I was quite tired as I stood with 300+ other passengers each within inches of each other. Then it hit me. I was the only 6’-4’ bald white guy among a sea of 5’-4” black haired Japanese. It reminded me of the sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro sticking through the clouds on a resent flight from Kenya to Tanzania. Everyone else looked so similar. I looked so different.

Back to the birthday party. My daughter greeted her friends. The physical differences were obvious. Some have Asian roots. Some have family background in Africa. Some are from South America. Many look European. It struck me what an incredible variety of people groups we have in our lives. This continues to enriche our experiences.

Red and Yellow, Black and White

I just read that in 1980, the Hispanic population in the U.S. was 6.4%. By 1990 it had jumped to 9%. Ten years later, in 2000, it reached 12.5%, and in the 2010 U.S. census it was 16.3%—almost double what it was 30 years ago.

Along with the 16.3% Hispanic number, African-Americans represent 12.6% of the total, and Asians, 4.8%. Non-Hispanic whites, come in at 56.1%.

So a cross-section of 100 Americans would be approximately...

56 Whites,

16 Latinos,

13 African-Americans,

5 Asians, and

10 of some other grouping, such as Hawaiian, American Indian, and others, including mixed races.

Wow! What a diversity.

The Point

So, what is the point of this musing? With a population as diverse as ours, we, of all people, should be able to appreciate that God’s love and Good News needs to be brought to ALL. All types of people in all places of the world.

As the old children’s song puts it, “Red and Yellow, Black and White, All are precious in His sight…”

All of the people you lock eyes on or simply pass by each day are loved by our Father and he wants them to hear about that love and his offer of an eternity-long relationship with him. All people in the remote villages where they have never heard of the name of Jesus are the object of His affection demonstrated on the cross… and he wants them to know it.

And God’s chosen methodology to get that message to the world in word and deed… is you and me and every other Christian in this generation. The good news for us is that God has given us not only a mission but also the provisions necessary to achieve the mission.

The question is: Are we using the abundant blessings God has provided to accomplish his mission to share the Good News of our Savior with all the peoples of the world? Red and Yellow, Black and White, All are precious in His sight!