Quest 33 - Know Your Neighbor
Katie and I have lived in our house for about 3 and a half years now. We started our marriage in a nice little, brand new starter home. It was easy to maintain, everything worked smoothly, and it was a great size for the two of us and our dog Cubbie. Naturally, we made the genius decision to upgrade our living arrangements. I wanted to live on a golf course, she wanted to have a pool. Several months later after a lot of debate, we found a house that we were interested in.
It checked all of the boxes… On the 11th Tee Box of Hackler Golf course, pool in the backyard, plenty of space for future family. Was it a little beat up? Yeah sure, but that’s what we could afford. Plus there was all of this shrubbery around the house and when we looked at it, it was in full bloom. It was gorgeous. A sold house later and we moved into this place knowing that there was work to be done, but that was okay.
But that shrubbery… that dang shrubbery has been the bane of our existence. We have battled it for 3 years until, gratefully, a friend of ours tore out all of the bushes so that we could get a fresh start. This was amazing. Until I realized, I had to find a way to get all of those roots and bushes to the dump. It was going to be a brutal job.
Thankfully, two houses down from ours there is a group of young adult, college age guys who have about 8 trucks in the front yard at all times, christmas lights up year round, you can picture the house perfectly. The amazing thing about this group of guys is that they run an incredible business where they are always working on tree removal.
We stopped by their place, asked if they would be willing to haul the debris in their dumpster that they tote around, and how much it would cost.
The lead guy's response baffled me, “Don’t worry about it man. We are neighbors, that's what we do.”
I’m sitting there with my jaw nearly through the floor. You have this young man, with presumably not a lot of church background, willing to be an incredible neighbor because it’s the right thing to do as a community.
The conviction in my life was REAL. I can say with certainty that I am not the best neighbor. The nature of my job is to be around people all the time. If you see me, it would be easy to assume that I am an extrovert because of the way I communicate on a stage or in the lobby. I really am a massive introvert though. When I leave work, my goal is to get out of my car and into my house as fast as possible to rest, regroup, and refresh my emotional state.
This is where the conviction comes in. My natural personality leads me to being a poor neighbor. The young adult down the street kicked my butt on how to be a good neighbor. Ever since then I have been kicking around how to be a better neighbor, how to make a difference in my community, how to show up in people’s lives.
And this is incredibly important! Remember what Jesus said in Luke 10:36-37, ““Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?”Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
And remember what Mark Moore said is Quest Week 33, “We prove our love for God by loving our neighbors. All of them.”
Loving our neighbor is an incredibly important thing that we all need to do. Our goal should be to help others find what matters… You can’t help your neighbor find what matters if they don’t know they matter to you. So how do you accomplish that? 2 simple ways this week.
1. Know your neighbors’ names.
In an honest assessment. Could you name all of your neighbors? Not just the people that you live around, but the people in the nearby office? The people in your class? The people on your team? Chances are probably not.
I know there is a habit of saying, “Oh I’m not good with names.”
Nobody is…. And that’s not good enough. The single most simple way to show someone that they matter to you is by knowing their name. When you call someone by their name it shows that you recognize them for who they are and that they matter enough to occupy a portion of your brain. So I don’t care what kind of name learning trick or pocket notebook or phone app that we have to use. Use it. So that people know that you care about them.
2. Know your neighbors' needs.
This is the second level and the part that really puts tires to the road. In the story of the good Samaritan. The Samaritan saw the man's needs and then helped him through that. He got the Jewish man to safety, cleaned him up, and paid for his stay. If he wouldn’t have stopped and paid attention like the others, then he would not have been able to help his needs.
Your neighbor has needs. It might be a spiritual need or it just might be to help move the debris like I needed. But they have needs. You can be the one to step in and help them. That’s not possible though if you don’t create time and effort to talk to them so that you can figure out what those needs are. You can’t help what you don’t know. So find ways to know their needs so you can be like the good Samaritan.
Once again - this isn’t just the neighborhood. This is the kid on your team with busted cleats, this is the person in your workplace with confidence issues who needs to be affirmed, this is the teacher across the hall from your kids classroom that looks troubled.
Show mercy!!!
I want to finish today with a quote from a great theologian. Mr. Fred Rogers.
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
It's a neighborly day in this beautywood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let's make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we're together, we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,
Won't you please,
Please won't you be my neighbor?