The Beauty of Unity

Yesterday, my son Ethan met a new friend, Ben. We pulled into the driveway of my friend's house and Jenn (my friend) says to Ethan, "Hey Ethan. I hear that you like Thomas the Tank engine."

"Yes." Ethan replies

"You know what? My son Ben likes Thomas too." she says.

Ethan tears off running toward the backyard yelling, "Ben! Ben!" He's yelling for a kid he doesn't even know and never met. Ben comes running over to Ethan. Ben says, "What?" to a kid he's never met. In a breathless voice Ethan says, "I like Thomas and you like Thomas too!" Unity. Two kids, who were strangers were unified by a train, Thomas.

On Wednesday last week, Ethan and I went to Steak and Shake for ice cream. We walk into the restaurant and Ethan screams," "Thomas! There's Thomas." And I'm all, "Where?"

"Right there" Ethan says running toward a boy and pointing. Ethan reaches the boy, a year or two older than Ethan, and touches the boy's shorts. On the shorts was a large picture of Thomas the Tank Engine.

"They can spot them anywhere," the other dad said to me.

True. We had just walked into the restuarant and Ethan probably only got a glimpse of the kid's shorts, but it was enough to pull him from holding my hand to racing over to the other little boy.

Maybe my son is a bit over the top about Thomas. Ok. I'll give you that. But, these two encounters between Ethan and other kids all because of a train, reminds me of my own unity as a follower of Christ with other fellow followers. You know? I can't say I get terribly excited when I met a fellow Christian whom I had never met previously. I wonder if it was different for the early church, as the new movement of Jesus grew as a minority movement within the larger Jewish/Roman world. There would be joy and happiness and immediate bonding all because of one man, Jesus. My son's reaction to Thomas causes me to wonder if I a Christian walking in America today, take my unity with others for granted.

But then again, my son is excited about Thomas because he plays with Thomas and the other engines daily. He takes them places. He's never without one or another of the trains. What about my relationship with Jesus? Am I, are we, not excited about the unity we share in Christ because we've allowed the relationship with the living Christ to be pushed aside?

Thanks for reading