Story

Tonight I heard a story of a highly motivated young woman; a very talented person whose goal in life was to serve humanity as a doctor. This person also happened to be born in a certain country south of ours a little while before she actually lived here. For some that makes her a scourge: the undocumented immigrant.
This post is not a discussion on the issue of immigration mind you. Please hit backspace as you ready your fireball level 80.
No, rather this post has to do with stories and how stories get lost in blind numbers and labels.
Ok, even more so, it has to do with the church (of which I am fast becoming a servant of, mind you) losing something very valuable: The personal touch of Jesus. It seems like I hear about groups a lot: conservatives, liberals, Mormons, Masons, Mennonites, Methodists, Mastodons, Multitaskers, etc. We can coolly make decisions based upon the cursory knowledge we have about these groups and let the cards fall as they may (very coolly.) But what if we actually knew something about the individuals in the group? Would our opinions change? Should our opinions change?
Would the way we see certain issues change based on the personal reality we find on the ground?
As I listened to the plight of this young woman who was working harder to put herself through school than I did to pay my bills week to week I could not help but wonder what Jesus thought of his child.
I think that He would know her one to one, not just as a member of a certain demographic.
Just a thought.
You’d think that in an age of hyper-individualism, this would not be a problem.