Tree & Branches Redux

Besko & Meli moved last Monday. It sucked. I their move would sadden me, but I was unprepared for the depth of loss I felt when Besko left. Don't worry. This isn't going to be some maudlin, cathartic, over-sentimentalized posting. I won't do that to you.
What I do want to speak to is how I saw God through Besim Seferovic. You might assume that it was in Besko's generosity (at the time this pic was taken, he offered me his watch). It's not. Or you might theorize that it was his love & affection (he constantly left the adults to go play with his grandchildren, esp. his "Jackie"). You'd be wrong. Perhaps, it was the amazing hospitality that he possessed (I never entered his apartment when I wasn't plied with copious amounts of food & beer). It might be that. Just kidding. No, the thing that really broke through the depression & ego was how much it felt like my own father was moving away when Besko left. Paradoxical? Definitely. Depressing? Not now. I was caused to reflect upon St. Paul's epistle to the Romans where he spoke about how we gentiles have been grafted onto the Jewish tree. Now I'm not going to get into the ins & outs of the passage. Suffice it to say that we have a rich heritage and owe much to our Jewish brothers & sisters (much more than we can ever repay them). I began to think about how amazing and beautiful this concept of family is. Besko & Meli have only been here for 10 years or so, but in that short of time they became members of our family. I hadn't realized it until it was too late. It snuck up on me.
It made me think. If God can graft these people into my family, people I never would have anticipated, who else will be in the Family of God? When I was in high school, I would have said only those who were charismatic- and I could have defined that fairly narrowly. Later, I would have broadened it to "born-again", then, evangelical, then it became trinitarian. Now, well, I just don't know. I don't consider myself a universalist-but only because I haven't fond a theology that rationally justifies it. What I do know is that God is too big for the little boxes we often make for Him and His Family. To me Messianic Jews are a no-brainer. What's truly intriguing is something I read last year about Muslims who profess Jesus as Lord & Messiah, but still call themselves Muslims. Truthfully, the word "Muslim" means "One who surrenders to God", so this is more apropos than we realize.
Imagine being at the Great Feast of God and siting down to break bread next to Muslims, Jews, and fellow Christians. Now THAT is what I call a GRAFT! I want to be a part of that kind of tree. Jesus said his Father's house had many rooms. My prayer, my earnest prayer, is that our apartment shares a wall with my Bosnian mom and dad.
Pax,
Jefe