United Not Divided

December 2, 2025

“I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us.” —John 17

I visited Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. On a beautiful summer day, I drove a convertible on Trail Ridge Road. Eleven miles of this road are actually above the treeline.

At its high point the road hits 12,183 feet elevation. Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved road in America. It’s only open about five months a year. The road offers thrilling views, wildlife sightings and spectacular alpine scenes, all from the comfort of your car.

I stopped at Milner Pass to stand on the Continental Divide. This great divide is the spine on the roof of America. It traverses America from Alaska and goes almost to Cape Horn at the end of South America. The Continental Divide separates drainage to the Atlantic from drainage to the Pacific.

Cache La Poudre Creek drains into the Platte River which flows to the Missouri, then to the Mississippi thus reaching the Gulf of Mexico, part of the Atlantic Ocean. Beaver Creek drains into the Colorado River, which then flows through the Grand Canyon and onto the Gulf of California, part of the Pacific Ocean.

It’s amazing to stand on a spot that denotes such an enormous divide. To think that this is the tipping point of the United States of America. Every bit of precipitation goes either right or left, east coast or west coast—at that very location. It is the natural dividing point of America.

I couldn’t help but think of the divisions in America and the Church. Ones that are unnatural and unhealthy. We are being divided by our differences, instead of being united by our similarities.

In John 17 Jesus prayed a very significant prayer. He asked the Father to help us. He said in verse 21 I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us.

Before Jesus left this earth, he prayed that we would be in unity. He wanted his followers to be united not divided. In the natural there may be physical divisions but in the spiritual, there must be unity.

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all one with Jesus and we need to be one with each other. Unity is not uniformity—it is diverse people sharing a common vision. Who have different experiences, backgrounds and strengths. And when we each use them together God is glorified.