The Pierre Family

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,  and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’  And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’  Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’  Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25. 31-46

We have our marching orders, and they do not come from our president but instead from God. Matthew 25 makes it very clear. Maryse and Jean Pierre know those orders and follow them carefully. They came to Jacksonville from Haiti 19 years ago yesterday with only 3 of their 13 children. In those 19 years, they have worked and brought over the rest of their children, all 13 children have jobs, several of them have become US citizens and voted yesterday. Jean, seen above proudly wearing his American flag shirt, and his wife Maryse, to the far left and their daughters Linda and Veronica with granddaughter Luna were horrified and devastated that their people were accused of killing people's pets for food. They are equally horrified that the man who accused their people is now the president of the United States. But they will not skip a beat as they go about their daily tasks of taking care of each other, gathering the local Haitian people for church on Sundays where their son Johnson is the pastor, and giving food, drink, clothing and comfort to all in their midst who suffer. There is always enough room at their table.

And so we must go forward as well. We must be the thousand points of light that the first George Bush called us to be. We must continue to carry the torch for justice and freedom into the world, loving our neighbors as ourselves. God reigns, not man.