Brush with Fame

My weekly phone call with my mom began with a twist yesterday. "Your dad reminded me to tell you that he's a celebrity." As my mind began to process the sentence my mouth took the bait, "Really, how is that?" She went on to tell me how dad and his buddy were out to lunch when the Obama/Bayh tour stopped by the northern Indiana Schoop's restaurant that they frequent.

Seems that this was more of a thrill than I thought as I Googled to find news interviews and photos. In the midst of rumors and speculation about running mates it appears that they decided to shake what one reporter called 'blue-collar hands' on their whirlwind tour of the state.

My dad, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat was not fond of 'his' party's candidate prior to this brush with fame. In fact he preferred the Republican candidate so he was wrestling with skipping the vote completely (probably for the first time in all of his 55+ voting years). But now he has a new perspective about placing his new-found friend in the Oval Office.

It all makes me think about labels. Democrat, Republican, white-collar, blue-collar even Christian and 'lost'. It is certainly an 'us' and 'them' culture that we live in where we label our differences as quickly possible. I am reminded that Paul instructs the Galatians that " There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." So let's love God and each other looking at our similarities rather than our differences.

Take care-