I was born to a Caucasian woman on September 12, 1994 in Columbus, MS. I was born with extremely pale skin, bright red hair and two different colored eyes. I have spent my entire life being told I need a tan and that my hair is weird. But all in all, I'm proud of them not because I'm white and red-headed, but because that's the way God made me.

I tell you this to make one point: God makes no mistakes. Everyone is made in God's perfect image and we are all beautiful. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Three mornings now I've woken up to news of violence and death. A month ago I woke up to news of a mass shooting. With every morning I wake up to news like this, I shatter a little more inside and I close my eyes and ask God why people feel the way they do. I ask him why he allows such violence in our world.

The first thing I want you to understand is that there is only one race: the human race. Black, White, Asians, Hispanic, Indian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, etc. are not different races. They are different ethnicities of the human race.

When God created us, he gave us the free will to choose. We have the free will to choose our paths in life, our love lives, and the stances we take toward social issues. He also gave us a book to use as guidance with lots of little stories and rules to use on our journey. Those include how to treat each other, regardless of our skin color.

God does not show partiality or favoritism (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9), and neither should we and we are told to love our neighbors as ourselves (James 2:8). When God split the Jews and Gentiles into two separate "races", for the most part, the Jews became proud of their status and despised the Gentiles. So Jesus Christ put an end to it destroying the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14).

Jesus commands us to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34). He teaches in Matthew 25 that whatever we do to the least of His brothers, we do to Him, and that if we treat a person badly, we are mistreating a person created in God’s image; we are hurting somebody God loves and for whom Jesus died.

In layman terms: any form of racism, prejudice, or discrimination are a slap in the face to Christ dying on the cross.

However, the bible also speaks to those who are victims of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. It states the actions they should take: they need to forgive. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Racists may not deserve your forgiveness, but we deserved God’s forgiveness for much less. We didn't deserve Jesus's sacrifice and grace at all.

Galatians 3:26 and 28 says, "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God; There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ."

At the end of the day, we are all equal. Black Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. Hispanic Lives Matter. Asian Lives Matter. Arabic Lives Matter. Police Lives matter. All lives matter.

Red or yellow, black or white, we are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.