We cannot all sit on the same side of the fire . . .
But we can all sit at the same fire.

"I don't like this place anymore." Kyle flopped onto the sofa and slammed the baseball into his mitt.

Mrs. Vaughn turned to look at him and read the righteous anger in his face. "I saw the new people move in. There goes the neighborhood, am I right?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"So you are going to give up this beautiful day for baseball, and mope around indoors?"

Kyle did his best mope. "Yeah."

"Do you remember when we moved here? Some people said that about us. Are you familiar with the word 'ironic?'"

"Sometimes I think you just make this stuff up. We were here first. This isn't their home; they're foreigners."

"This is a country of foreigners, Kyle. Some of the ancestors of many of the people we call Native Americans came from someplace else first. You were born here, so you are a native American."

"That's just what I said, we were here first."

"But our family has only been in this country about one hundred and sixty years. That is as close as we can count it."

"So where did we really come from before that? I mean in the first place."

"I presume you don't want to hear about Adam and Eve again."

"You told me that Adam meant red dirt or something like that, so that's sure not us."

"Clay is the word I used, Kyle."

"OK, clay, but I'm talking about our family."

"Can you sit still for a little history?"

"If it's good."

"There's nothing better happening right know, you've already told me that."

"How do I do this?" Kyle thought. He said, "OK, I'll listen."

"Our ancestors most likely came from the west coast of Africa, which came to be known as the Slave Coast."

"Slave Coast? You mean they bragged about it?"

"They just took it as a matter of fact; slavery is talked about in the history of many nations."

"It's wrong."

"Yes, it is, and it still exists today by many names. Slavery was our beginning in this country."

"How come you never told me this before?"

"Today is the day, Kyle. Make yourself comfortable."

Kyle sprawled his gangling boy-man body the length of the sofa and waited.

Mrs. Vaughn began: "My grandparents four times great . . ."

"I'm lost already; what does that mean, Mom?"

"It means that my great-great-great-great grandparents were sold into slavery in this country in about 1840, and shortly after that were captured by Cherokees and traded to the Muskogee tribe."

"Indians had slaves, Mom?"

"Yes, but they were treated more like family, and some even married. Now, to go on: Some of the Muskogee, who were called "Creeks" by the whites, broke away from their tribe and then became the Seminole."

"This is getting kind of complicated, Mom."

"Just remember that Seminole means 'one who has broken away'."

"OK, so we were Seminoles?"

"No, we stayed with the Muskogee, and we were part of their history for a while. As the country began to develop treaties were made with different tribes to get them to move to areas that the settlers didn't want . . . yet. But the treaties were always broken.

"So by the time the tribes were moved to Georgia a gold rush had already begun there and another deal was made. This was to be one of the cruelest times for the Native American Indians; and is known in history as "The Trail of Tears."

"That sounds awful, Mom."

"Hundreds of people died from cold, and hunger and disease, but our folks survived. My great-great-great-grandmother was about five years old by the time the tribe arrived in Arkansas. Shortly after that our family escaped to Kansas, which was free territory."

Kyle sat up, feeling that the story was finished. "And here we are. But what's with all the grandmothers?"

"In the tribes the families were descended on the mother's side, and we've always kept track of it that way, too. But the family name has always been carried on the male side, which is the conventional way in American society."

"So we were still here first."

"This child of mine, so like his father," Mrs. Vaughn thought.

She began to walk into the kitchen. Over her shoulder she said, "We will stay with this until you understand, Kyle."

With all the weariness of thirteen going on forever Kyle flopped back down on the sofa. "But does it have to be another Bible story? Is that all you ever read?"

Mrs. Vaughn turned back from the doorway. "Very well, I will tell you a very old story told by a tribe of people called the Inuit, who live in the Arctic."

"Never heard of them."

"I'm not surprised because people have usually called all the northern people Eskimos, which is an ignorant and rude name."

"Oh yeah, those. Are you going to tell me that we are related to them somehow?"

"Perhaps, somehow, I'll let you decide."

"OK."

"The story goes," she began, "that two men began to wonder how big the world is so they agreed to travel in opposite directions to find out. Each of the men set out with their wives and traveled for years. Babies were born and grew up and more babies were born until the two groups became large tribes.

"The original parents grew very old and traveling became difficult but the journey continued. Finally they came completely around the world and they met back where they had started."

Kyle sat up. "I see a mistake right there; they should have met halfway around the world on the other side." Kyle smiled with the pleasure of finally catching his mother in error, and as a small celebration he threw the baseball up.

Mrs. Vaughn neatly speared the ball in mid-air before Kyle could catch it. "That was quick of you, but not quick enough; there are many paths around the world." She threw the ball to Kyle. "No ball playing in the house," she said, matching his smile.

"How old is this story, anyway?"

"It was being told long before Columbus set out to 'prove' something."

"How come they don't tell us this stuff in school?"

"Two things, Kyle: one, the winners write the history and (b) it's up to you to find out what stuff to stuff yourself with."

"School keeps me so busy, and everything else, that's what I'm saying."

"Well then, busy man, you had best listen while you have the opportunity."

"You mean there's more?"

"Only if you are interested."

"Well, yeah. What?"

"I think you'll like this. People had been sailing back and forth from the west coast of Africa for at least five hundred years before Mr. Columbus took the trip."

"So black people were first?"

"Everybody wants to be first, Kyle, that is what most of the wars are about. As far as who knew about the world being round, the Inuits said so in their story. Let's go in and be by the air conditioner. I just have to show you this."

"I knew it! It never fails," Kyle said, but he followed his mother into the kitchen, and resigned himself to the lesson.

"Just in passing, read this little verse, Kyle."

"He sits above the circle of the earth. OK. So?"

"That was written a little over seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, seventeen hundred years before the West African sailors, and more than two thousand years before Columbus."

"I get it."

"Good. Keep it, and don't let anybody talk you out of it. But just one more thing. Let me see, is that Micah or Malachi? I always mix those up. It had to be Micah, because it was the same era as Isaiah. Here it is: chapter five, verse two."

Mrs. Vaughn put her finger under the passage and held it over for Kyle to read. "Sure, I know that one. It says that Jesus will be born in Bethlehem."

"Does it say Jesus?"

"No."

"Does it say Christ?"

"No, but we know it's about him."

"Yes, we do. And this verse describes him this way: He whose goings forth are from everlasting."

"You mean that Jesus has always been around?"

"Kyle, Jesus is a Hebrew word, and Christ is a Greek word. People have always been naming God's spirit in their own language since God began speaking to man."

"How long has that been?"

"This book says 'from everlasting,' so you tell me."

"I don't know, Mom."

"That is the answer that shows you know more than all the people who say that they know."

"Mom, if the whole world belongs to God, why do people fight for just parts of it?"

"Everybody fights for home; they say 'for God and country,' but I have never been convinced that God wants us to fight for him. And many people refuse to go to the military. Some have died for that belief."

"Aren't they cowards?"

"Some say so. What do you think, Kyle?"

"If I say I don't know will I still be smart?"

"The Book says that our consciences either excuse us or accuse us. Our decisions are based on our personal relationship with the Creator. Jesus said that if his kingdom were of this world, then his followers would fight."

"So the people who are fighting are not following Jesus? Is that right, Mom?"

"Simple logic would make that so, yes. Kyle, you will have to decide which kingdom you want to live in. God is love and anything else is a lie."

"But what if I don't like somebody, Mom?"

"Try love first, honey, and like will take care of itself. I have friends that don't always like me, but they don't use it as an excuse to treat me badly, because they love me. Give your new neighbor a chance; baseball is a safe decision for now."

"I'll do it, but one more question: where is our home?"

"Our true home is in God's kingdom. And we are to share the planet in peace to show our love for God. It's that simple, now go enjoy the day."

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