Hello, welcome to God Today. My name is Pastor Tyrone Gray. I pastor a church in Louisiana called The Edge Church. I want to talk to you just briefly about the playground. As a kid, many of us can come to this. We all played on the playground one moment in life or another moment of life. I remember in my early years at the age of 5. I grew up in a city with many nationalities. I grew up in a college town. In this college town, they had many family members from many different religions, races that were were going to school at the college. All of my friends represented just about every continent upon the earth.
I remember as a kid playing on that playground. We used to play kickball together, dodgeball together, those were some of my best moments. At the age of 12, my parents moved to a suburban town. I moved away from the playground I grew up in. In this town, I found myself being rejected – being an outcast because of the color of my skin. I remember crying many nights and asking my mom, “Why? What happened? I want to go back home.” And even though the house we lived in was such a beautiful house, it wasn’t home. I just wanted to go back to the playground. I would tell my mom, “Mom, I just want to go back to my friends why did we have to come here? I just want to go back.” Until I discovered Jesus.
The moment I discovered Jesus, let me tell you, all that went away. All that went away. My playground became a reality again. I began to discover people in the church who didn’t look at the color of my skin. Or what I looked like on the outside. They embraced me and they loved me.
I want to encourage you today. If you feel like you’ve been rejected or even if you’re trying to get accepted. Find yourself a good local church where people will love you and help you to self-heal. Everybody is not against you. This is my story. Welcome to the playground.