God Doesn't Know Color............and neither should we

The answer to racism has been written in the Bible for thousands of years, all we (as a people) have ever needed to do is pay attention. God created man in His image and from man, woman was created to be his companion. God did not define all the differences or intricacies of man nor woman but simply man and woman. We, as a society, should endeavor to do the same.

Below I have included the parable of "The Good Samaritan" from Luke 10, (edited) as an example. A "Christian" being a person who endeavors to follow the teachings of Christ.

The Parable of the Good (Christian)

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among (bad people), who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain (religious man) came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a (second man), when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain (Christian), as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the (bad people)?”

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Old Days of SEO and Top Spot

I remember when....

Long ago when the internet was just coming into it's own and the battle for "top spot" in a Google search was the big thing to accomplish. People started companies selling their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) skills to companies for increased revenues. The idea being that when someone did a web search for a specific need, the first or "top" company to come up had a higher percentage chance of getting someone's business. Maybe this is still a thing, I don't know, but it was a decade ago.

Back then I was still learning to put together websites and learn all I could about how all the nuts and bolts of the internet worked. I read a lot of books and articles as well as a lot of long nights learning the HTTP code and all the nuances that went along with it. Hours, days, weeks...all spent learning how this whole system worked. I think about it now and it seems kinda funny how driven I was with all of it. It was a lot harder to build a site back then because many of the "instant" sites and platforms weren't available like they are now. We had to code from "scratch" and as new code types and capabilities were introduced, we stayed on top so we could implement them into our sites.

I'm writing this article not so much to reminisce, but to a memory of a photo I ran across digging through some old archives. Looking at it I remember the excitement of finally pushing enough traffic across my website to hit that "top spot" and then the immediate sigh of completion. I had done it. I finished what I had set out to do and have the photo to remind myself of all the work I put in. These are the kinds of accomplishments I like to share with my son and hopefully inspire him to go and make some of his own accomplishments. It's a good feeling to set one's mind on something and see it through to completion. However, I've also learned that all the credit goes to God for providing us with what we needed to accomplish our goals, whatever that may be.