Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Love thy neighbor part II

A few nights ago, I came home at about 11 p.m. from my soccer game where our team had gotten smacked down again by a score of about 8-1. My neighbor was sitting on her porch. She is a nice lady who is a single mother of 3. I sat on her porch and talked to her for a while. She was not doing well. She seemed down. I told her that I thought she seemed depressed lately. She told me that she struggles because about 8 months ago, she lost her 10 year old daughter to some sort of illness.


Losing a child has to be the worst pain imaginable. I felt so sorry for her and totally understand her reasons for her depression. We had a great talk on the porch. I asked her at the end if I could pray for her. She said yes, so I put a hand on her shoulder and prayed for her on the spot. I prayed for God to take care of her daughter in heaven and for comfort for them here on Earth.


After the prayer I told my neighbor that I was a minister. She had no idea! (It must be because of all the wild parties we've been throwing at our house!) She was thrilled that I was a minister. I told her I would be planting a church in the city next year. She said “well my family and I are going to come to it!”


So I guess my new church that doesn't exist yet (except in my head and heart!) just grew by 4 people. That's pretty cool. I had no intention of her being a part of our church. I didn't try to love her with any ulterior motives. I was just trying to be neighborly and loving her like God would want me to. I hope that our church one day grows by repeating these kinds of stories over and over. That's the kind of church I want to be a part of.