Confession time: Skip has really challenged me the past few weeks with his message about what family really is. Lately, we've made our family mission official (we always had one unspoken). We talked about our vision and how to accomplish the display of God's love and His mission through our daily lives.
We have a new neighbor. When I say new, I really mean several months now. We've met the man twice but never his wife. Often while on our daily walk, I'll say to my wife, "you know, we should really try to have them over to get to know them and welcome them to the neighborhood." She says "yep". That's it. That's as far as we every go, until the next walk. We talk about how weird it is that we never, ever, see them outside. We don't even know their names.
So, what am I teaching my kids about reaching people for Christ? About being a good neighbor? About loving others? I'm teaching them we don't really love the "weird" ones. We don't really put too much effort into making connections. We don't step out of our comfort zone too often.
Time for Action - if you look at my neighbor's trash can right now, you'll see a plain piece of paper stapled around the handle. A message from me with my phone number and an invitation. A meal, coffee, beer? Whatever it takes to start a connection.
Dear God - please such my heart and expose me when I'm being a fraud. If I say I love You and I love others, please help me to live what I say and teach my kids to live what I say. Lord, give me opportunities to love others and always focus my heart on Your mission!
Philip J.
