Feb 20 Diversity Talk part 3

 Here is the rest of the talk.  No links to provide for this one.  I had heard this example in an institute class I had taken.  Dee Hadley was the one who shared the Good Samaritan/six scenario example.

       Another example I have is a true incident that took place on the University of Utah campus.  Students who made their way to the institute building may have passed one of six scenarios – for example, there was a crying youth who’d been riding his bike but had stopped because the chain had come off and was looking for someone to assist with putting it back on. There was an older gentleman walking out of the library with a stack of books in hand – which he dropped.  There was a woman who tripped and fell. 

The students on their way to the institute building were having a test and their instructor had told them not to be late.  When it was time for class to start he shut the door and turned to the students who had arrived and said, “Congratulations.  You just failed your test”  for the old man with the books, the woman tripping, and the crying youth along with the other three scenarios had been staged.  Those who stopped to assist – if any – would have been late for class but are the ones who passed the test.  They had served with Christ-like love.  They were good Samaritans who hadn’t judged and served a higher purpose than being on time.

God wants us to embrace our diversities and become good Samaritans to everybody and not just those we choose to assist but those that we don’t understand or even like or know. We are all God’s children and He would like each of us to come and meet Him in His inn and fellowship one another and build each other up. 

with compassion, the Good Samaritan stops and binds our wounds with wine and oil. He will put us on his donkey and provide us shelter.

We need to focus on our good qualities and talents and learn from one another instead of focusing on the negative or what we don’t understand. We are not here to fix people according to our own definition but to help one another overcome any fears or doubts and work together at bringing one another to joy and light.  I challenge each of you to look at everyone with the same eyes that God does that we may lift one another and share and learn.