Neighboring

It started about a month ago. My favorite farm guy and I went to Orlando, Florida with some friends for the Exponential Conference where the focus was on evangelism. We heard story-after-story about the opportunities that Covid has brought to the Church with how to be better at neighboring.

Jay Pathak, a Co-Author of the book titled, The Art of Neighboring spoke and really challenged the packed auditorium to take more seriously the commission from Jesus to love our neighbors.

Here’s a quote from page 20 of their book.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Could it be that simple? I (Dave) remember thinking, Jesus is a genius! He is asked to pick one commandment that is more important than all the others. And he shares something that would change the world, if only every person who believes in Jesus would actually do it. - Dave Runyon

As I sat there in my seat, I began to feel remorse over how greatly I have neglected this simple command.

You see, you have to travel down a long driveway to get to our country home. The only neighbors we know are the ones we share a driveway with.

And that should not be okay with us, but somehow it has been.

After coming home, I texted the one neighbor we already knew and shared with her my desire to be a better neighbor. Then I asked her if she would help me plan a dinner party with the neighborhood this summer. She said yes! And then she went on to tell me about some other neighbors.

And I could almost see the party in my mind.

Since then, we’ve stopped over to visit the house across the street from the end of our driveway three times. We discovered their names and also learned that the grandma who’s living there with them has cancer. And now we know how to better pray for them.

I must admit that we’ve also had some fun with it.

We’ve dressed up in our country best all while bringing plates of food and eggs for the adventure.

Prayer '- Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know or care for our neighbors. Help us to do better.