Courier-Times Article for Saturday, April 21, 2007
Monday, April 16th, 2007 is a day that many will not soon forget. It was a day of unimagined tragedy on a university campus in Virginia. It was a day of several heroes and at least one coward who took the lives of 32 other people rather than deal honestly with the pain in his own life. It was a day of death and dying.
It was also a day of life and living. On Monday, I became an uncle again. My brother and his wife brought an 8-pound, 20-1/2 inch bundle of joy into the world; her name is Jessica. In a hospital in Michigan it was a day of unimaginable possibilities. It was a day of hope and excitement.
The questions that are being asked today in Virginia are the same we ones being asked after 9-11 and Columbine. They are the same questions that were being asked on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor and in the concentration camps in Germany. They are the same questions that were asked after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 where at least 8000 people lost their lives. Why did it happen? Could it have been prevented? If God is a loving God why did He let this happen?
These are valid questions. And it is important to wrestle with these questions. In the days following these tragedies many got tired of answering these questions and turned to entertainment. We needed a distraction because we didn’t want to deal with the questions. But we must wrestle with these questions until we understand who God is and who we are.
There is a character in the bible named Jacob who wrestled with God. It was only recently that I’ve come to see what that wrestling match was all about. When I was younger, it just seemed like a weird story about God wrestling with Jacob, Jacob not letting go of God until God blessed him, and Jacob being injured in the wrestling match resulting in a life-long limp. The key to this story is God’s question to Jacob, “What is your name?”
When God asks a question, it’s not because He doesn’t know the answer. God knew who Jacob was; He wanted to know if Jacob would be honest about who he was.
The last time Jacob was asked that question was also the last time Jacob was seeking a blessing from his father Isaac. When Isaac asked Jacob who he was, Jacob lied and said he was Esau, Jacob’s older brother. Jacob was seeking a blessing that wasn’t rightfully his; it belonged to his brother Esau. Jacob’s deception with Isaac resulted in a time of wandering, loneliness, and wrestling.
When we wrestle with God about issues, the only way to be blessed is to deal honestly with who we are and who God is. It might be painful, but it is the only way to be released from the time of wrestling.
If we are honest we will see that God is good, all the time; He is good in Virginia Tech and He is good in a hospital in Michigan. If we are candid we will also understand that we are imperfect; Cho Seung-Hui was imperfect and baby Jessica is imperfect. Also, if we are transparent with God, we will realize that we will all die just as we were all given life on the day of our birth. We may never know all of the reasons behind the tragedies in Virginia Tech, Columbine, Pearl Harbor, Dachau, or any of a thousand other heartrending locations. The question today is, will we discover the reasons for God giving us life?
The question about why God gave us birth is even greater than the questions about why God allowed “unexpected” deaths. As we wrestle with the life and death events of this past week, including the United States Supreme Court decision to uphold a ban on partial-birth abortions, remember the example of Jacob and how his honesty with God resulted in the birth of a nation. That nation bears Jacob’s new name even today, the name that God gave him after their wrestling match – Israel.
Why did God give you life? For what reason did God bring you into this world? You’ll only find out if you deal honestly with God even in the dark days. My prayer is that my new niece will discover the “whys” behind her birth and will choose to fulfill God’s plan for her life.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Well Of Community Is Dry
Courier-Times, New Castle, IN - July 8, 2006
I hear it all the time. The problems all seem different, but they have the same source. “People just aren’t committed any more.” “We have to cancel the meeting, we can’t get a quorum.” “I just don’t understand them, how can they think that way?” “I can believe it. Another minister (or lay person) is going down in flames!” “I just don’t trust him anymore.” “I don’t understand why people don’t give to the church like they used to.”
All of these issues in life, both inside and outside of the church, flow from one well. Actually, these are all problems that indicate a lack of flow from a well that has nearly run dry. That well is what we used to call community.
We still believe that we have community and that we live in community, but rarely to 21st century Americans experience genuine community. We used to sit on our front porch and wave at the neighbors driving down the street, or those tending to their own front porch. Now we stay inside our air-conditioned homes and watch the latest sitcom on TV.
We used to gather the entire family, or neighborhood around the TV to watch the Ed Sullivan Show or pre-WWF wrestling. Now we have four TVs in a household of three and, if we all happen to be in the house at the same time, we are watching at least three different stations in three different rooms.
People used to show up for Sunday Evening service, even non-church-goers, just to be with the rest of the community. Now church is a second thought if it even ends up in our minds at all.
What we are witnessing is the drying up of the well of community, what researchers call social capital. Fewer people are participating in group activities and more and more are participating in solo activities. We bowl alone, eat alone, commute to work alone, play video games alone, surf the web alone. We have fewer common experiences. We watch television shows designed for our specific demographic. We stop listening to the local radio station (a common experience) and start listening to our I-Pods (a personal experience). We’ve even stopped worshiping together and demanded “our own style of worship service.”
Often, as a result, we don’t trust each other, we don’t understand each other, we don’t work together, we don’t pool our resources like we once did, and we are more likely to fail when it comes to moral accountability. There is a reason why God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Even before the fall of humankind, and the first act of sin, there was something in the garden that was not good and that something was aloneness.
It is not good to be alone. But we live in a culture that elevates the personal preference over the common good. If we are to replenish the dried up well of community, we will have to make intentional decisions to make it happen. Community doesn’t happen accidentally in American culture. We must decide to recapture or reinvent community. That’s where you come in.
When was the last time you invited someone over after church, or after the game, and just sat around the backyard and talked? When was the last time you talked to your neighbor down the street? When was the last time you turned off the technology and ate dinner together as a family? When was the last time you and your spouse had a casual conversation that didn’t anticipate an end result or by-product? Only you have the power to make community happen in your life. It is not good for you or me to be alone.
You can make a difference and help replenish the well of community, and I hope you make an effort to do just that.
Friday, April 6, 2007
The Lone Ranger Wasn’t Really Alone
August 19, 2006 – Christian Perspectives - New Castle Courier-Times, IN
Growing up in America, I’ve learned a few things that are as American as apple pie and Chevrolet. The Cubs will probably never win a World Series Championship. You can remember the names of the Great Lakes because each lake starts with a letter in the word HOMES. Columbus discovered the New World; or was it Leif Eriksson, or maybe Americus, or maybe the Native Americans?
Anyway, I also learned that the heart of the American Spirit was the self-sufficient, entrepreneurial pioneer most typified by the Lone Ranger. I’ve been taught that Donald Trump is a self-made man, that Rambo and the Terminator can each save the world all by themselves, and that Elvis and Frank both did it “My way!” And while this might be the heart of the American Spirit, it is far from God’s design for us.
Scripture teaches us that it is God who made us and, not we ourselves. It also shows us that very rarely does God use a lone individual to accomplish His purposes. Moses needed Aaron and Hur. When Moses tried to be the lone judge of the people, his father-in-law, Jethro, convinced Moses to select several judges to help with the work load. David had his mighty men. When Elijah was depressed thinking he was the only one serving the Lord, God reminded him that there were still 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
We see the same pattern in the New Testament. When Jesus sent the twelve out to minister the Good News, He sent them two by two. Jesus did the same thing with the 72 followers who were sent out to do ministry. The missionary tours of Paul were not taken alone. It was Paul and Barnabas, then Paul and Silas. Dr. Luke tells us that the church spent time working and worshiping together as a community.
I am becoming more and more convinced that effective, God-honoring, Kingdom advancing ministry can only happen within the context of community. God doesn’t desire, and hasn’t designed Lone Ranger Christians; He has made us for community.
Evangelism, when practiced outside of full participation in the community we are evangelizing, may still win souls to Christ. But the motivation for that kind of evangelism is rarely compassion for lost souls. Instead, the motivation is a self-serving, check-list, do-the-right-thing mentality.
Giving a turkey to the homeless on Thanksgiving is better than not giving one. But the motivation behind this once a year, social-sacrifice is usually to appease our guilt and not based on love or concern for those in a desperate situation.
When we lose our identity as a body of believers, even worship gatherings can become centers for selfish spiritual consumers, rather than communities of grace.
Grace, compassion, love, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, joy, goodness, self-control, and many other marks of true Christ followers all indicate a relationship with someone else. You cannot have compassion except for someone else. You cannot show kindness except to someone else. There is no need for self-control except in dealing with others. You cannot show faithfulness without someone else to be faithful to.
Our very nature, as new creatures in the Kingdom of God, presupposes that we will live, and work, and laugh, and grieve, and experience joy, and peace within a community. To live outside of community is to deny the very core of our new nature.
I’m still not sure who first discovered the New World but it was probably some guy who wouldn’t stop and ask for directions. Maybe the Cubs will win a World Series, but I’m not holding my breath. And if Donald Trump could do it by himself, why does he need an apprentice?
However, I am convinced that the Lone Ranger didn’t do it “on his own.” He had Tonto and they worked as a team. The Lone Ranger is not only fiction, it’s a myth. The Lone Ranger Christian is also a myth, whose legend is better suited for the comic books than real life.
Growing up in America, I’ve learned a few things that are as American as apple pie and Chevrolet. The Cubs will probably never win a World Series Championship. You can remember the names of the Great Lakes because each lake starts with a letter in the word HOMES. Columbus discovered the New World; or was it Leif Eriksson, or maybe Americus, or maybe the Native Americans?
Anyway, I also learned that the heart of the American Spirit was the self-sufficient, entrepreneurial pioneer most typified by the Lone Ranger. I’ve been taught that Donald Trump is a self-made man, that Rambo and the Terminator can each save the world all by themselves, and that Elvis and Frank both did it “My way!” And while this might be the heart of the American Spirit, it is far from God’s design for us.
Scripture teaches us that it is God who made us and, not we ourselves. It also shows us that very rarely does God use a lone individual to accomplish His purposes. Moses needed Aaron and Hur. When Moses tried to be the lone judge of the people, his father-in-law, Jethro, convinced Moses to select several judges to help with the work load. David had his mighty men. When Elijah was depressed thinking he was the only one serving the Lord, God reminded him that there were still 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
We see the same pattern in the New Testament. When Jesus sent the twelve out to minister the Good News, He sent them two by two. Jesus did the same thing with the 72 followers who were sent out to do ministry. The missionary tours of Paul were not taken alone. It was Paul and Barnabas, then Paul and Silas. Dr. Luke tells us that the church spent time working and worshiping together as a community.
I am becoming more and more convinced that effective, God-honoring, Kingdom advancing ministry can only happen within the context of community. God doesn’t desire, and hasn’t designed Lone Ranger Christians; He has made us for community.
Evangelism, when practiced outside of full participation in the community we are evangelizing, may still win souls to Christ. But the motivation for that kind of evangelism is rarely compassion for lost souls. Instead, the motivation is a self-serving, check-list, do-the-right-thing mentality.
Giving a turkey to the homeless on Thanksgiving is better than not giving one. But the motivation behind this once a year, social-sacrifice is usually to appease our guilt and not based on love or concern for those in a desperate situation.
When we lose our identity as a body of believers, even worship gatherings can become centers for selfish spiritual consumers, rather than communities of grace.
Grace, compassion, love, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, joy, goodness, self-control, and many other marks of true Christ followers all indicate a relationship with someone else. You cannot have compassion except for someone else. You cannot show kindness except to someone else. There is no need for self-control except in dealing with others. You cannot show faithfulness without someone else to be faithful to.
Our very nature, as new creatures in the Kingdom of God, presupposes that we will live, and work, and laugh, and grieve, and experience joy, and peace within a community. To live outside of community is to deny the very core of our new nature.
I’m still not sure who first discovered the New World but it was probably some guy who wouldn’t stop and ask for directions. Maybe the Cubs will win a World Series, but I’m not holding my breath. And if Donald Trump could do it by himself, why does he need an apprentice?
However, I am convinced that the Lone Ranger didn’t do it “on his own.” He had Tonto and they worked as a team. The Lone Ranger is not only fiction, it’s a myth. The Lone Ranger Christian is also a myth, whose legend is better suited for the comic books than real life.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Even Peyton Longs for Community
Christian Perspectives Article 08-26-06
I watched the Indianapolis Colts’ preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks last week and something that John Madden said caught my attention. He said that Peyton Manning said something that Madden hadn’t heard in twenty years. Peyton startled him by asking, “Do you know what I love about training camp?”
John Madden’s broadcasting partner interrupted with the play by play and then followed up. “Well, what was it?” Good question.
What could possibly be loveable about training camp? Is there anything appealing about two practices a day in 90 degree heat in Central Indiana in August? What could one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL like, let alone love, about training camp?
Peyton said, “I love the fact that we can’t get away from each other. Guys come by the room and hang out. We play cards. We’re together.” What Peyton Manning loves about training camp is community.
But Peyton’s not alone. Ask any kid what they like most about the summer and more often than not they will respond with something like this: “I loved camp with all my friends,” or “our family vacation together,” or “when our little league team won the championship together.” The highlights of people’s lives are the times when they experience togetherness.
What was so magical about the days following September 11, 2001? We had all experienced something together as a nation. What is so appealing about a honeymoon? It’s the time that two people can focus exclusively on their “togetherness.”
Have you ever spent a relaxing evening together with friends that you haven’t seen “in forever”? As the evening winds to an end, you look at each other and say, “We should do this again!” What did you want to do again? It was the experience of togetherness or community.
God created us for community. Many of us are deficient in experiencing community. We feel that there is something missing but we can’t quite put our finger on it. When it finally happens, often by accident, it takes us by surprise and overwhelms us. We don’t want to leave, and when we are forced to leave we are eager to reproduce the experience as soon as possible.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” Why? Because we need to encourage one another. We need to love one another. We need to help one another. We need to bless one another. We need to challenge one another to do great things for the kingdom. We need to weep with one another. We need to party with one another. We simply need one another.
How good do you think the Colts would be if they refused to attend training camp with each other? They need to spend time with each other so that they can accomplish the job that they were assembled for – to win every game they play.
How good can the church possibly be if we refuse to spend time with one another? We need to spend time together so that we can accomplish the job that we were assembled for – to advance the Kingdom of God.
They probably didn’t know it, but Sunday Night Football touched on a profound truth that effects every person alive. We were made for community. We crave community. We are at our best when we live in community.
For Peyton and the Colts, the season is just around the corner. For the church, we are very likely in the second half of the most important game of the season. It’s time to get together and build community.
I watched the Indianapolis Colts’ preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks last week and something that John Madden said caught my attention. He said that Peyton Manning said something that Madden hadn’t heard in twenty years. Peyton startled him by asking, “Do you know what I love about training camp?”
John Madden’s broadcasting partner interrupted with the play by play and then followed up. “Well, what was it?” Good question.
What could possibly be loveable about training camp? Is there anything appealing about two practices a day in 90 degree heat in Central Indiana in August? What could one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL like, let alone love, about training camp?
Peyton said, “I love the fact that we can’t get away from each other. Guys come by the room and hang out. We play cards. We’re together.” What Peyton Manning loves about training camp is community.
But Peyton’s not alone. Ask any kid what they like most about the summer and more often than not they will respond with something like this: “I loved camp with all my friends,” or “our family vacation together,” or “when our little league team won the championship together.” The highlights of people’s lives are the times when they experience togetherness.
What was so magical about the days following September 11, 2001? We had all experienced something together as a nation. What is so appealing about a honeymoon? It’s the time that two people can focus exclusively on their “togetherness.”
Have you ever spent a relaxing evening together with friends that you haven’t seen “in forever”? As the evening winds to an end, you look at each other and say, “We should do this again!” What did you want to do again? It was the experience of togetherness or community.
God created us for community. Many of us are deficient in experiencing community. We feel that there is something missing but we can’t quite put our finger on it. When it finally happens, often by accident, it takes us by surprise and overwhelms us. We don’t want to leave, and when we are forced to leave we are eager to reproduce the experience as soon as possible.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” Why? Because we need to encourage one another. We need to love one another. We need to help one another. We need to bless one another. We need to challenge one another to do great things for the kingdom. We need to weep with one another. We need to party with one another. We simply need one another.
How good do you think the Colts would be if they refused to attend training camp with each other? They need to spend time with each other so that they can accomplish the job that they were assembled for – to win every game they play.
How good can the church possibly be if we refuse to spend time with one another? We need to spend time together so that we can accomplish the job that we were assembled for – to advance the Kingdom of God.
They probably didn’t know it, but Sunday Night Football touched on a profound truth that effects every person alive. We were made for community. We crave community. We are at our best when we live in community.
For Peyton and the Colts, the season is just around the corner. For the church, we are very likely in the second half of the most important game of the season. It’s time to get together and build community.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Is It God Or A Ghost?
HeartLine Newsletter Article February 2007
This story has recently piqued my imagination. The gospel writer, Mark, at the end of chapter 6, tells of Jesus walking on the water. The amazing thing about this story is the response of the disciples.
They all saw Him, but they were terrified because they all thought He was a ghost. Question: How did they know what a ghost looked like? Had they ever seen a ghost before? Why was it easier for them to believe that this image of Jesus was a ghost and not Jesus Himself walking in their midst?
Many times I have missed God as He walked nearby because I was unable to identify Him. I have said things like, “What a strange coincidence.” I have been puzzled by the events taking place around me. Sometimes I was even fearful and unsure of what future events would hold me and my family.
Now I am trying a new response. I’ve not got it down perfect, but I am getting better. You might want to try it yourself. My new response is this: I ask how is God working in my life? What is God doing in the people around me? Has God been speaking to me, and if so, what is He saying?
It’s amazing how the ghosts in our lives disappear when we begin to look for the hand of God. It’s incredible to see how consistent His message is when we intentionally listen for God’s voice. My prayer for us is that we will see God walking among us, and respond with hope, not fear.
This story has recently piqued my imagination. The gospel writer, Mark, at the end of chapter 6, tells of Jesus walking on the water. The amazing thing about this story is the response of the disciples.
They all saw Him, but they were terrified because they all thought He was a ghost. Question: How did they know what a ghost looked like? Had they ever seen a ghost before? Why was it easier for them to believe that this image of Jesus was a ghost and not Jesus Himself walking in their midst?
Many times I have missed God as He walked nearby because I was unable to identify Him. I have said things like, “What a strange coincidence.” I have been puzzled by the events taking place around me. Sometimes I was even fearful and unsure of what future events would hold me and my family.
Now I am trying a new response. I’ve not got it down perfect, but I am getting better. You might want to try it yourself. My new response is this: I ask how is God working in my life? What is God doing in the people around me? Has God been speaking to me, and if so, what is He saying?
It’s amazing how the ghosts in our lives disappear when we begin to look for the hand of God. It’s incredible to see how consistent His message is when we intentionally listen for God’s voice. My prayer for us is that we will see God walking among us, and respond with hope, not fear.
Do I Really Love My Neighbor?
Christian Perspectives Article – Saturday, March 17th, 2007
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
One month ago the body of four-year-old Ariana Payne was discovered in a storage locker in Arizona. She had been dead for at least six months and no one knew. Her five-year-old brother, Tyler, has been missing at least that long and is feared dead, but no one has missed him either. It is possible that these kids have been missing for almost a year but it didn’t bother anyone until they found little Ariana.
On the same day Ariana was found, police entered a Long Island apartment and found the body of 70-year-old blind, diabetic Vincenzo Riccardi, sitting in front of a TV that was still on. No one had seen Vincenzo for more than a year. No one had missed him. His neighbors thought he had been hospitalized or moved to a nursing home so they didn’t check on him.
Two cases, a country apart. Two souls, a generation apart.
What breaks down in a society, or in a nation, that allows the most vulnerable to disappear without notice? Why is that two individuals, who should be receiving the most watch-care, can be missing for a year and no one knows? No one cares.
It is the second great commandment that is broken; Love your neighbor as yourself. It is community that has disintegrated. How can we love our neighbors when we don’t even recognize that they are missing?
I am convinced that most Americans are so busy with the busy-ness of life, so focused on our own needs, so consumed with consumer-ism, that we have left the “community” and not even recognized it. Do you know your neighbors? Could your neighbor be missing for more than a year and you not know about it, or care about it?
There are neighbors within one-hundred-yards of my house that I am ashamed to say could have been missing for a year and I wouldn’t know.
Sometimes we get tied up in do’s and don’ts, trying to live up to the standard we think God has set for our lives. Or we reach for the “brass ring” of success by climbing the next rung on the corporate ladder. We strive for athletic, academic, or artistic success and sacrifice time and relationships to attain it. Even in the church sometimes there is more busy-ness than effectiveness.
But Jesus said only two things are required; Love God and love your neighbor. If you do these things, the rest of the law of God will take care of itself. But how can you love God if you don’t invest any energy in getting to know Him? And how can you love your neighbor, if you don’t even know that they are missing?
John, Jesus’ closest friend during His earthly ministry, goes even farther. “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” John ties the two together. If we don’t love our neighbor, how can we claim to love God? If we truly love God, we must also love our neighbor.
Who do you know that needs extra watch-care? Who are the ones in your neighborhood that need “checking in on?” Who’s watching out for you? Who should have been watching our for Ariana and Vincenzo?
I was stunned by the recent re-publication of pictures of the destruction in the wake of the 1917 New Castle Tornado. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed. 22 people lost their lives, and hundreds were injured. If we were hit by another tornado in 2007, would you know who to look for in the piles of rubble? Would you know if your neighbor was missing? Would you care?
During this season as we prepare for an Easter celebration, let’s build community on all levels. Get to know your neighbors and what their needs are. Only then will you be able to love them. And get to know God and what He desires. Only then will you be able to love Him.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
One month ago the body of four-year-old Ariana Payne was discovered in a storage locker in Arizona. She had been dead for at least six months and no one knew. Her five-year-old brother, Tyler, has been missing at least that long and is feared dead, but no one has missed him either. It is possible that these kids have been missing for almost a year but it didn’t bother anyone until they found little Ariana.
On the same day Ariana was found, police entered a Long Island apartment and found the body of 70-year-old blind, diabetic Vincenzo Riccardi, sitting in front of a TV that was still on. No one had seen Vincenzo for more than a year. No one had missed him. His neighbors thought he had been hospitalized or moved to a nursing home so they didn’t check on him.
Two cases, a country apart. Two souls, a generation apart.
What breaks down in a society, or in a nation, that allows the most vulnerable to disappear without notice? Why is that two individuals, who should be receiving the most watch-care, can be missing for a year and no one knows? No one cares.
It is the second great commandment that is broken; Love your neighbor as yourself. It is community that has disintegrated. How can we love our neighbors when we don’t even recognize that they are missing?
I am convinced that most Americans are so busy with the busy-ness of life, so focused on our own needs, so consumed with consumer-ism, that we have left the “community” and not even recognized it. Do you know your neighbors? Could your neighbor be missing for more than a year and you not know about it, or care about it?
There are neighbors within one-hundred-yards of my house that I am ashamed to say could have been missing for a year and I wouldn’t know.
Sometimes we get tied up in do’s and don’ts, trying to live up to the standard we think God has set for our lives. Or we reach for the “brass ring” of success by climbing the next rung on the corporate ladder. We strive for athletic, academic, or artistic success and sacrifice time and relationships to attain it. Even in the church sometimes there is more busy-ness than effectiveness.
But Jesus said only two things are required; Love God and love your neighbor. If you do these things, the rest of the law of God will take care of itself. But how can you love God if you don’t invest any energy in getting to know Him? And how can you love your neighbor, if you don’t even know that they are missing?
John, Jesus’ closest friend during His earthly ministry, goes even farther. “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” John ties the two together. If we don’t love our neighbor, how can we claim to love God? If we truly love God, we must also love our neighbor.
Who do you know that needs extra watch-care? Who are the ones in your neighborhood that need “checking in on?” Who’s watching out for you? Who should have been watching our for Ariana and Vincenzo?
I was stunned by the recent re-publication of pictures of the destruction in the wake of the 1917 New Castle Tornado. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed. 22 people lost their lives, and hundreds were injured. If we were hit by another tornado in 2007, would you know who to look for in the piles of rubble? Would you know if your neighbor was missing? Would you care?
During this season as we prepare for an Easter celebration, let’s build community on all levels. Get to know your neighbors and what their needs are. Only then will you be able to love them. And get to know God and what He desires. Only then will you be able to love Him.
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