Where You From?

You ever get asked that question? “Where you from?” I live in the south, (actually I’ve lived in the south for over 30 years) but I didn’t grow up in the south. I grew up in Norwood, OH…which is to say that I grew up in a suburb of Cincinnati. Norwood is an interesting city. At least it was in the 1970’s & 1980’s when I lived there. Norwood is a small community set inside a larger city. Any direction you travel outside of Norwood, you go into some part of Cincinnati. That may not be unique. I haven’t really researched it. But it seems unique to me.

Anyways, it’s often easy to spot people that “ain’t from around here” isn’t it? My wife is from Tennessee. The state that I have lived in for over 30 years now. When she goes to Norwood with me, people know right away that she’s from somewhere else. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that she won’t even order at a restaurant. She makes me order for her.

I recently went to Wales on a mission trip. It was my 8th trip to Wales and to basically the same area. And while I do know a few Welsh words, it’s instantly evident that I am a foreigner.

Ok so, why is this important? Well, I think sometimes we tend to judge or at least make assumptions about people due to where they are from. In my scripture reading today, I was reading in John 4. It’s a very familiar passage and story. We know it best as The Woman at the Well. There are many things from the story that can be used as a teaching or learning moment. The most obvious is certainly the fact that the woman was a Samaritan and Jesus of course was Jewish. In that culture, Jews and Samaritans didn’t mix too well. The Jewish people didn’t trust the Samaritans and therefore didn’t like them very much. Plus, Jesus being a male would not typically speak to a woman in public in that day. However, John 4:7 states, “Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (ESV)

Jesus had that unique ability to not judge a person by where they were from or how they looked or even the life that they had lived. This woman clearly had a shady past. Jesus looked beyond the surface and looks at the heart. He understands that just because someone may be from a less desirable location, it doesn’t make them less desirable. At least not to Him! He sees their need not their neighborhood. That’s a great lesson for us to learn to live by. I know it is for me.

As I was looking at this old Norwood High School directory, it just made me think that everybody is from somewhere. And what matters to Jesus (and what should matter to us) is not where we are from, but where we are going.

I’m proud to be from Norwood. But I’m even more grateful for where I am going!