I was 9 years old. The ball was only about 3 feet into the road. No big deal. I looked up and down the street. No cars. So I rushed out, grabbed the ball, and hurried back into our front yard. Mission accomplished! But there was one small problem. I had been told numerous times NEVER to sit foot on the road without an adult to go with me.
But in this case, my mom was inside the house. She couldn't see me. So I was in the clear. Whew! Dodged a bullet on that one for sure. Oh wait a minute. I heard a male voice behind me saying, "I thought you weren't supposed to be in the road." I turned around and saw our elderly neighbor from across the street heading my way. I froze in my tracks. He crossed the road, came into the yard, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me toward our house. He knocked on the door and when my mom appeared he told her what I had done.
The next step involved a chewing out, a wait until your father gets home, and a whipping with a switch (a limb off a bush or small tree for those who have never had the privilege of being on the receiving end of a switch). To top it all off, my dad had not gotten home yet. When he did, it was deja vu all over again!
I use this story as an example. No, as hard as it might be to believe, this was not the first whipping I ever got, nor would it be the last. In fact, the last beating/whipping I got was when I was 11 years old. I looked at my dad after he had used the belt on me and said the following "Well if it makes you feel so good, why don't you do it again?" He did! And that was the last whipping I ever received. But, I digress.
The people who lived in our neighborhood at 335 Locust Street in Morristown, Tennessee, were great neighbors. They were mostly older folks. They kept an eagle eye on my brother Greg and I.
I never have figured out how their eyesight was so bad when it came to everything else, but if my brother or I stepped out of line, they saw it with perfect 20/20 clarity. On top of that, these folks whose memory often failed them, could describe our transgressions in perfect detail. As if that weren't enough, they had permission to whip us when we did wrong (thankfully not all of them did, but a few had no problems in doing it). This would be the whipping BEFORE the whipping we got when they dragged us home and ratted us out. And these people were all around us! We had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Looking back, what a blessing from God to have had such wonderful neighbors, and parents who cared enough to enlist the whole neighborhood to watch out for my brother and I. Some of you reading this can probably tell similar stories, especially if you lived close to relatives as my wife Karen did growing up. For those who didn't, I am so sorry for what you have missed.
In the Scripture, Jesus takes the opportunity to broaden the definition of who is a neighbor. A lawyer asks Him about inheriting eternal life. Jesus says,“What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" The lawyer answered,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he (Jesus) said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:27-29 ESV)You can almost sense the wheels turning in the lawyer's mind. "OK, I understand the whole loving God thing, but I need to be clear on this neighbor issue. After all, I sure don't want to be loving people that I really don't have to. So, tell me who my neighbor is and I will love them. I'm thinking that everyone within a 2 block radius of my house would be plenty." To the lawyer, "Who is my neighbor" was strictly a technical/legal question. To Jesus, the question was a spiritual one. It was a question of love for God and obedience to God.
Jesus answers the question "Who is my neighbor" with what we refer to as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. His parable throws the lawyer for a loop. His answer also throws a monkey wrench into our own definition of who are our neighbors.
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:30-37 ESV)
"Go and Do Likewise" is not a difficult command to understand, but it is surely a difficult command to follow because being a good neighbor challenges our own preconceptions about what constitutes a neighbor:
- We don't have to know the person at all in order to be a neighbor. In this story, neither the priest, the Levite, nor the Samaritan knew the man on the side of the road. Jesus made it clear that was no excuse for not being a neighbor to him.
- Neighbors are not always close by. They are often found along the path of our daily lives. Many of us, like the priest and the Levite, choose not to look or simply ignore what we see and just pass right on by (as quickly as possible). Being a good neighbor means being willing to go out of our way.
- Loving God is a necessary prerequisite to showing compassion. Compassion is what led the Samaritan to alter his plans and help the wounded man. One cannot be a true neighbor if he/she does not have a compassionate heart.
- Being a neighbor means having to get our hands and clothes dirty. The Samaritan knelt down, touched the man, bandaged his wounds, and lifted him upon his own animal.
- Neighbors are often inconvenienced. When the Samaritan woke up that morning, he probably had his day all planned out. He was on the road to Jericho for a reason. But, so were the Priest and the Levite. However, the Samaritan's plans were always subject to the prompting and leading of God. Such was not the case of the Priest and the Levite.
At the end of a previous blog entitled "Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded?," I mentioned that in a future blog I would talk about Christians who have been a great blessing to me, my wife, and our family during many of the Darkest Nights. They all have taken Jesus' command to "Go and Do Likewise" as a personal mission statement to show compassion and mercy. They are my NEIGHBORS.
Kevin is a great neighbor even though he lives 10 miles from my house. Being a godly neighbor has nothing to do with how close they live to you. Many of us have lived in places where we barely knew the people who lived next to us or down the street. Kevin is different. During my most difficult times over the 8 years I have known him, he has been there for me.
Last year, he spent most of the year out of state working, yet he would call me regularly to see how I was doing and if I needed anything. His phone calls were always right on time. They were a gift from God. And the fact that he did it from New Orleans, Miami, and New York, just as he had done in Cookeville, demonstrated his love for the Lord and his love for me.
Kevin is a great listener. I called him one evening and asked if I could come over. I went and spent a couple of hours basically venting my frustration and despair over every aspect of my life. I didn't need him to "fix" anything, I just needed him to listen. He did. He also offered words of encouragement, suggested some biblical principles that applied to my situation, and prayed with me.
Alice is my neighbor. She lives over 100 miles away, but she is my neighbor. In fact, she first became my neighbor when we lived in the same city, but even then, we lived miles apart. She has had to bandage my emotional and spiritual wounds so many times over the past 10 years. Other than my wife, I treasure her counsel and wisdom more than any other person on this planet. Although I have not seen her in a while, her encouragement and prayers via email are always welcomed.
There is not enough time or space to tell you about Kewon and Idalmus, Jimmy and Diane, Tim, Chuck, Tony and Jane, Connie, Bill and Beverly, Renee, Kyle, Ruth and Jerry, Scott, Dave and Rita, and so many others. They have all been neighbors to me and I thank God for each one of them.
You may be wondering what all of this talk about neighbors has to do with the "Dark Nights" that many of you are going through. You may say that you do not have neighbors who care about you and show compassion for you. You feel all alone.
Well, before I started writing this particular blog post, I knew that I had been blessed in my life, but as I looked back over 40 years ago and remembered 335 Locust Street, the memories of those neighbors brought such joy to my heart. I had forgotten just how much God had blessed me back then through them.
Again, as I thought about the last 20+ years of multiple health challenges, it seemed, at first, that I had spent much of it alone. Yet, as I looked closer, the faces of so many wonderful, godly neighbors started flooding my mind. Some of those folks have gone on to be with the Lord. Others have moved far away and we have lost contact. But, my God has continued to bring me neighbors just when I needed them the most.
You see, all of my life has been that way. God has been true to His Word to never leave or forsake me. He has accomplished this by remaining by my side through all the "Dark Nights" AND sending me godly neighbors to be His hands, feet, and ears for me.
Despite how you might feel right now, I believe that if you honestly examined your life, you would discover many, many neighbors God has sent your way. Those remembrances will not only bring joy to you right now, but they will strengthen your faith in the Lord. The more times we can look back and see His hand at work in our lives, then it becomes easier to trust that His hand will continue to be there in the days to come.
That, my friends, is "Hope in the Darkest Night." But one final question you must answer: Who am I being a neighbor to right now?
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