Red, Yellow, Black, and White...We are precious in His sight

In the past few weeks, I have been contacted by several divinity school graduates to come and speak to various groups at their churches about Islam. Of course, I have agreed to go and help them out with this teaching. As I have been thinking about this, I thought about my life.

I grew up in a rural town on a dirt road, next to my grandparent's 40 acre farm. The closest thing I knew to diversity were the few African American children in my classes. Most of the people I knew and hung around were white. As I went through middle and high school, this stayed the same. When I was accepted to various universities across the Commonwealth of Virginia, I ended up choosing the one closest to home, yet it had some of the greatest diversity. As I arrived on campus for the first day of my freshmen year, I realized I was in the minority. I was surrounded by people from all over the world. I was 17 years old and had never left the East Coast of the United States.

Following that first year in college, I went to Europe for the first time to teach English. Since traveling internationally the first time, my interest was sparked, my feet were wet and I didn't want to stop traveling. I have traveled somewhere internationally each year since then. I am blessed to have been able to do this.

As I embraced the diversity that there was at VCU, I fell in love with the world cultures. It was quite interesting to me that I knew very little about other religions. I am a Christian and hadn't thought much about learning about other religions. Then September 11, 2001 happened. I remember the day and time, I remember where I was and how I reacted. After this tragic time for our country and its people, I decided that the way I could help was to learn more about Islam and help people to understand the true meaning. After all, God calls us to love all people. The following spring semester, I signed up for my first course on Islam. I remember going the first day. I was scared to death because I didn't know a thing and I was scared to fail. I was greeted with smiling faces and warm hearts of the many Muslims that were in the class.

As I continued my studies, I opted for a double major and chose religion with a focus on Christianity and Islam. This became one of the best opportunities for me. I was able to study under some of the best scholars and Imams in Islam. I took courses comparing the three monotheism's. I wrote papers, I read the Qur'an and I attended the masjid (mosque). This was a growing time for me.

During my years in college I became good friends with many Muslim people. I participated in more of the Muslims Student Association events than I did the Christian ones. It seemed that Muslims really knew how to accept people, while I always felt excluded in the Christian groups because I wasn't "like" everyone else.

Upon graduating from college I moved to a very small town in North Carolina where I would begin to attend Divinity School just a few weeks later. I thought that I had lost all of the diversity and that the learning about Islam would stop. I was wrong. I have been able to take world religions and independent research on Islam. Now I am the coordinator for International Student Services at the University working with people of all faiths and backgrounds.

So as I think about going and speaking at these churches in the upcoming weeks, I look at the path I have taken that brought me here. My ability to study and to learn has made me one of the student leaders for knowledge on Islam. I have students that ask me questions all the time. I have helped to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and for that I am truly thankful. Going to speak at these churches is not going to be easy. It is still a little nerve wracking because I struggle with what to say and how people will accept it. For now I can just keep it in my prayers.

As the picture above clearly shows, God created us all with different skin tones, different voices, different everything, yet he loves us all. As I continue to teach and educate others, may I do so in a way that God is exalted and people realize that just because someone believes differently than you it doesn't mean they are bad people.