[Darris McNeely] America and Cuba recently announced that they were going to restore diplomatic relationships after more than fifty years of estrangement. Now this is big news. For those of us who are baby boomers, we remember when Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt Batista government in 1959 and then set up a Communist state there on the island of Cuba, just ninety miles off the American coast in the Caribbean. And of course, we remember the Bay of Pigs. We remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. And this thorn in the flesh that Castro and his regime has been, for at least American relationships, all of these years while they have been isolated that close to America and from other parts of the world – a state sponsoring terrorist operation out of Cuba and many other matters as well.

So, to announce that the thaw is on, that they're going to resume relationships, is quite a major step that has taken place here. Now, there's lots of politics involved, but I am really not going to get involved in that – I know that there are Cubans in America, in Miami and other places, still upset about this, other politicians – politics aside, it's going to happen and quite frankly, it's probably long overdue. More than fifty years of being estranged like this between two neighboring countries is long enough. I once had a thought that, if America really wanted to get rid of the Cuban menace, the Communist state over there, we should flood the whole nation with videos and television shows like Dynasty and the program about millionaires and what it takes to be a millionaire, because the people would probably rise up and throw off the harsh Communist dictatorship that has kept them down for these five decades or more in a poverty, in a condition, that has not allowed them to go further and go along.

In the meantime, Big Brother in the United States next door has gone on, with its life in prosperity, to be as rich and as wealthy as it has. The average Cuban and the person in the street in Havana, in other places there – well, they have been the ones who have lost and suffered. So diplomatic relationships will continue – will now be forged, and a new era of relationships will go on there.

As I was looking at some of the reports about this and thinking about it, and of course having been all my adult life recognizing that here's this place that you really can't go to necessarily, and the problems there that have been there, I got to thinking that, you know, the comment from Ecclesiastes is true (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). There's a time for everything. Well, for America and Cuba, it's time to reconcile and get on with life. Whatever it will be, regardless of all the politics, and all the other issues – it's time to reconcile.

And I was reminded of a scripture in Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 17, where the apostle Paul was talking about relationships between peoples. And it applies to nations. He says, "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." And in verse 20 it says, "Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17-20). The politics can be debated and discussed on both sides, but here's a neighbor ninety miles off the American coast and good relationships need to finally be built and everything buried and moving forward. It's a good thing – it's a good relation and a good point for countries, certainly a good point for all of us to consider in our own human relationships.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.