Love means loving you anyway.

I found this article in the Washington Post sad. Maya Keyes, daughter of outspoken, conservative, and former candidate against Barack Obama (D) for the Illinois Senate seat Allan Keyes, has openly admitted to being gay and is now estranged from her family. During the Presidential campaign I admired how Dick Cheney handled the questions about one of his daughter's sexuality. He made it clear that he loved her dearly, but still held to his own values. Not that the left or the media ever gave him any credit for it.

How difficult it must be to have this situation in your family. I guess I am lucky that I don't even have to deal with political differences in my family. They are all Republicans (although it took a few years for some to get there). At least we don't have heated fights over the holidays. I don't have any family members who are gay, but I have had friends, of course. But that is different. Especially when it is your child and you have raised them in such a way and you feel they are living differently from that which you have taught them. My kids are not on their own yet, but I know there is nothing they can do that would keep me from loving them.

When it comes to Christian faith, sexuality is a difficult subject. It is, of course, just as sinful to have pre-marital sex or to commit adultery as it is to have homosexual sex. So it would be as upsetting to me for my kids to live with someone of the opposite sex as it would for them to live with someone of the same sex. I would love them all the same. I would never disown them or not speak to them as it seems Alan Keyes has done with his daughter. (as a side note, I met Alan Keyes and his family a few years ago at a pro-life march. They were very gracious and nice.) His daughter, even though she has proclaimed to be a liberal, remains pro-life.

But what is worse than having to deal with different values in a family, especially religious values, is having to deal them as a public figure. It just must be AWFUL. Just like this Jeff Gannon thing, some people just feel that everything is open game.

In the end, we are all responsible for our own actions, sexual or otherwise. I can only teach my children what I feel is best for a happy life. They will make their own decisions. Loving them does not mean accepting everything they do or believe. If Alan Keyes and his wife have disowned their daughter then that is wrong. Christ had dinner with tax collectors and what could be WORSE than that????? Evil personified!!! My point being is that Christ knew that you can't love someone if you don't spend time with them. You can't get through things without showing them that you care. Oh, how the pharisees ranted about it! They just couldn't believe he would have dinner with sinners. Even the disciples questioned Christ speaking to the woman at the well, the woman who had had many men. He stopped the stoning of a prostitute. We all know what he said next. "Let those without sin throw the first stone." But hardly anyone speaks of what he said next to the prostitute. "Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more." Now that is a tough one. As Christians we are called to go and sin no more. But we do. And Christ just keeps forgiving us, when we asked for it. When we mean it. When we love Him.

Perhaps Alan Keyes and his family will always have to accept their daughter's lifestyle. Maybe they will have to learn to live with her decisions. I know that will be hard. But it isn't easy for her either. She loves her family. Being rejected must be horrible. I can't even imagine it in my own family. I don't know all the answers, but one thing I do know. Love always wins. It does. Loving someone, despite your disagreements. Showing them that love, not just saying it, always wins. Always.