“I BUY LOCAL”

Following an SUV this morning, I read a bumper sticker which said, “I BUY LOCAL.”

The assumption was that this person shops the farmer’s market for locally grown food and supports small farmers and business persons who operate independently and offer high quality goods and services.

Then I noticed something else. They were driving a Volvo.  Now, I am not being critical of people who drive cars built by automakers based in other countries.  I do.

If you drive a Camry, it is likely to be made by your friends and neighbors Georgetown.  Local?  Yes, well, somewhat.

The corporation is Japanese.  Yet the plant is in the United States. Your friends and neighbors pump millions into the local economy. Local?

Toyota gives generously to local causes.

All of this is to say, for us, there are not that many degrees of separation from any individual or country in the world. Our well being is directly connected to every other person on the planet.  Fire a shot in Libya or Yemen and it is heard and sometimes felt here.

Jesus was “local” but he also belonged to the world and all eternity.

Our well being and our future is woven together with people who are local and those who are not.

The question even came up about Jesus when someone said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

We know what they meant.

The boy, who was local, became global and eternal.

Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff