March 18, 2018 Jeremiah 31:31-34 Recently my family read the book Wonder together. We watched the movie version too, which of course was not as good, but was beautifully done. It is one of those rare stories that is appropriate and important for all ages. And it made me rethink how I consciously and unconsciously treat the people around me that are different in some way. I found myself wishing this book were required reading for everyone everywhere. Wonder is about a year in the life of Auggie Pullman, a boy who was born with a rare genetic defect that left his face severely disfigured. After dozens of surgeries and a very sheltered existence, Auggie begins school for the first time at a private middle school in New York City. Middle school! The locus of all of my worst growing-up memories! It is hard to imagine a more difficult entrance to society for a kid like Auggie. We all know, or we think we do, what fate awaits him, and it isn't pretty. And there is a