EBONY AND IVORY
By Rick Mathes
I was stealing cars, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes by the time I was age 13. By the time I turned sixteen I had robbed a gas station, stole a motorcycle and had run away from home during a race riot in Detroit Michigan. A black “Aunt Jemimah” said, “White boy, you’re gonna die!” They were throwing whitey off the Belle Isle Bridge. I lived within we were teenagers. Ten years later I sold a luxury cruiser called “Soul Sister I” to none other but Aretha Franklin and five years later I hire the first black insurance agent in my Prudential District Office. It wasn’t until I started Mission Gate Prison Ministry that my wife and I were the only white recipients of the Martin Luther King Annual Award for making the most positive difference in the black community in St. Louis Missouri.
In the midst of my forming our Ministry we persuaded a female prisoner to keep her baby and not have an abortion. We adopted Karlita and now she is happily married, has an earned MBA degree and is a counselor for Bethany Baptist placing unwanted babies in wanted adoptive homes. How is that for going full circle? Both Karlita and I were to be aborted but thanks be to God, we were allowed to live and serve Him with all that is within us.
I said all of that to say this; we are all one in Christ. Humanly speaking, we all have the same DNA as Adam and Noah. As elect we are one Body with the Savior.
One in life: We live only to reflect Jesus to all that will look on us.
One in aim: There is one God, one faith, one Bible, one baptism, one Body.
One desire: We are all called to love God and our neighbor with all the love we have.
The black, white, yellow, red and tan issue is still a thorn in our side. We Christians of all colors are long suffering and gravitate to those of like kind without regard to our skin color. We all seek well for each other without any jealousy or malice.
Jesus has but one lesson for us all and simply stated it is just “Love.” That is we seek not our own but rather blessings for each other. That puts a smile on the Lord’s face when ebony and ivory harmonize in sweet accord.
Rick Mathes 