A Christian, A Jew, & A Muslim Walk Into A Fruit Stand...

A Jewish guy, a Muslim, and a Christian were all at a fruit stand. This has the makings of being a hilariously inappropriate joke, but I'll tell you upfront that it isn't. It's the truth.

I was at a fruit stand. On my left hand side stood a Jewish family complete with yamakas waiting on the bathroom. Not just black yamakas--these were accessorized. They were royal blue with a golden sparkling inlay. Translation: they were fancy. I'm not sure where you buy your yamaka if you are Jewish, but these guys knew all about the yamaka store equivalent of Banana Republic.

On my right was a family of Muslims complete with turbans. They were nicely dressed and seemed happy to be with their family. I wish I could say their turbans were metro, but they weren't. Are there metro Muslims? The turbans were disappointingly plain; if I wear something on my head, I want it to do the talking for me. I want it to be loud.

The perfect Christian Caucasian family was caught in the middle. I kind of was ticked that I didn't have something to wear on my head to show that I was a Christian. Maybe all Christians should wear one of those worship leader train conductor hats. That would be cool. However, there I was and I didn't know what to do since everything Fox News had taught me about this situation war was about to rage. The "Terror Alert" raised from green to red. They were about to start fighting for the Holy Land. Airports were shutting down across the nation. I could only imagine that the polite Jewish family would go to their car that was transformed into a tank and the polite Muslim family would declare Jihad. It would be a bloody mess with fruit juice ending up everywhere. Armageddon was inevitable.

You won't believe what happened next.

The Jewish family waited long enough to be able to use the restroom. The Muslim family went to choose their fruit. Can you believe that? Not even a tomato was thrown! The crises was averted at the last moment. The "Terror Alert" declined to it's normal (back to yellow). Bill O'Reilly was able to breathe, but continued to yell at people.

I'm not against Fox News or Bill O'Reilly. The Terror Alert is ridiculous because it's a scare tactic. What I am against is how disgustingly evil I believe everyone is who isn't like me! I hate how uncomfortable I feel when I'm around people who don't believe what I believe. I hate how our culture has painted false pictures of people.

A few days earlier a white lady told me how great her town was. She said that it was a great place to live and raise children. A place where as she stated, "Blonde hair girls like yours [pointing to my girls] can walk down the street without fear of them being raped. Our town is 90.4% white (yes, she said point four) and 94% Republican." Wow! That was like one of the most inadvertently racist things I had ever heard. Because we all know you are only safe if you are around white people with guns! Honestly, I'm white and typically vote Republican, but guess what? That doesn't make me a good person.

What's my point?

My point in all this is that you need to love whoever you come into contact with.

If they are Jewish, there's no place for antisemitism.

If it's a Muslim, you are to love them and have compassion for them. Chances are they don't want to kill you, anyway.

Even if it's a seemingly sweet middle aged (but somewhat racist) woman, who thinks white Republicans make up the perfect town.

Jesus commands us to love everyone. He wants us to have compassion and show mercy to all that we come into contact with. Jesus extended his love to Romans during his ministry. Jesus intentionally traveled to the Tyre (a Gentile city). While he was there he did some of his finest work: he healed a Canaanite woman's son (whom he referenced to as being a dog) and feed 4,000 plus people. Don't forget about one of Jesus' greatest success stories in his ministry, his time spent in Samaria with people too unclean for Jewish followers to even associate with. Yes, Jesus mainly spent his time with his fellow Jews, but it didn't stop him from intentionally seeking out ways love others when the opportunity came available.

Jesus calls us to love all people no matter religion or belief.