Michael Backman has always felt unaccepted and unsure of his identity. His adoptive parents are Caucasian and he is African-American. His parents returned his little sister to the foster care system when Michael was nine. He grew up fearing to be returned as well. At school he did not fit in with the white children. Even the black children did not accept him. “I didn’t talk the same way, I didn’t dress the same way, I didn’t have the same interests. I was a laughingstock,” Michael says. He lied and told people that his true mother was Diana Ross.
He grew up claiming many false identities and began stealing cars and forging checks. Still searching for acceptance at the age of 31, Michael hid his true identity again and went back to high school. He felt that high school was one place where he found some happiness in the past.
With his new red 1999 Chevy Camaro, cool demeanor, and determined efforts to achieve, he quickly became popular with other students, was voted for student government, and carried high scores in his classes. His sense of belonging lasted only three months when police found out his true identity, and arrested him for bad check charges and forging documents to enter school.
As I read Michael’s story, I felt sorry for someone to go to such lengths just to find friendship and acceptance in life. He did not feel like he belonged in his family or in society. Actually, many people have similar feelings as Michael. They keep searching for a place where they can belong.
There is a place that a person can come to find true love and acceptance. God promises that anyone who comes to Him will never be forsaken. Friends may betray us, society may desert us, family may reject us, but God will never leave us if we follow Him. We can become sons and daughters of the God of the universe. Psalm 27:10 says, “When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Jesus will be our savior, companion, and friend for eternity. All we need to do is ask God into our life and follow His ways. Jesus says, “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts” (Psalm 119:63) . “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deut. 31:6).
