Here I am on the back side of the world. What an arrogant statement that is. Who am I to declare my spot on the globe the front? But this morning, 8,000 mile from home, that's how I feel. I just got word that my neighbor died.
Kathy and I had only been married for nine months when we moved in at 2106 S. Carpenter Drive. It was the first real house we lived in together. It's been our home for the past forty-three years. We raised our boys there, and have been privileged have our grandkids visit. And for all those years Gene was our neighbor.
Sometimes when I would tell people where I lived, I'd tell them that I lived next to Gene. They'd kind of look puzzled and then say, "Oh, you mean Fatty." If you knew Gene you'd know why he had received that nick-name. I never used it. There was much more to him than his significant circumference. Gene was one of those guys who carried a lunch box and wore a hard hat. He sacrificed and worked hard to build a nice home. He suffered the bitter cold and snow of Korea, and saw some of his conrades claimed by that cruel conflict. He was a loyal--some would say fanatical--union member. Though he was a big man, he was one of the little guys that he wanted to get a fair shake. He extolled the virtues of Ford. Until his dying day he wanted to be back behind the wheel of his red pickup or, even better, his blue Cyclone. In spite of extra cars and other junk in the yard, Gene was a good neighbor.
Good neighbors are there for one another at times like this. I regret that I can't drop in to visit with his family, and swap stories, but as I say, I'm on the back side of the world. I'm here, in part, because of a story Jesus told one time. You probably remember it. We call it the story of the Good Samaritan. A legal expert was trying to pin Jesus down. He wanted to know, "Just who is my neighbor?" He wanted to know this so that he could know who he didn't have to help. "Who can I, in good conscience ignore?" You read the story, maybe a couple of times. I think you'll see that by taking the person who this Jewish leader was least likely to regard as a neighbor, and giving him the GOOD NEIGHBOR gold star, Jesus was saying that all people, everywhere are my neighbors.
So, I came here from what my neighbors, here, would regard as the backside of the globe, to be a good neighbor. I concluded that there is some good I can do here. Some partners have made it possible for me to be here. It's what neighbors are supposed to do. We take the blessing God has entrusted to us and share it, sometimes next door, sometimes around the world.
Being a good neighbor, let's work on that today.
It's STTA.
PS: I'm very glad that God gave me the privilege of sharing the Good News with Gene. Because Gene trusted in the Lord, I expect to be his neighbor again. I want to do the neighborly thing toward you, and share that good news. Here is a simple video presentation of the message.
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esus' determination to go to Jerusalem. In fact we here Jesus speaking of that which
dogs. If there is a hideous topiary award I think I might win. It took me about two days to make this tree this ugly. It was too big. It's close to the house and garage so some chaos-metics were in order. It is hard work to make a tree this ugly. Dangerous too. My task involved ladders, rope, saws of various descriptions, including one on a twelve foot pole, a truck, and a come-along.