"Know ye that the Lord he is God,0 it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." Psalms 100:3a (KJV).

    "Why is the sky blue?" I once asked my mother when I was a child.
    She simply stated, "That's the color God wanted the sky to be."
    At that time, I can't say my mother's response completely satisfied my curiosity, but today, as an adult, that knowledge really is all I need. I understand God created all things, and all His creations, including mankind, were designed with his approval. This means every color, whether it is the shade of the sky or the grass or human skin, was colored by His hands.
    In the novel, Boaz Brown, Michelle Stimpson boldly tackles the issue of race relations in American and more specifically, the Church, and we as readers are challenged to respond by examining our hearts with the question: How does God feel about racism?
    The answer is easy. Psalms 145 tells us "his tender mercies are over all his works". So, if God does not see color as a barrier to His grace and mercy and love, neither should we allow color to become the obstacle that keeps us from loving and accepting each other. God made differences in each of us, inward and outward, and our differences are what make the world interesting and colorful, a planet of diversity that calls each of us to daily praise Him for his wondrous creations.