There was a knock at our front door. That’s odd. We hardly ever have unexpected visitors. So I went to the door to find my neighbor…the lady I’ve lived next to for 22 years. I’ve waved to the couple, and I had spoken to her husband a few times over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with the wife. It’s just how I am. I know I should be more neighborly, but it’s just not my natural tendency. So not the point.
So 22 years without conversation and here she was, on my porch. I went out and offered her a seat on a lawn chair. She asked if I had received a note from the post office indicating I had a certified letter up there. I hadn’t received any such notification, but she had my attention. As it turns out, the letter which all the neighbors should be receiving is about a mutual neighbor’s residence.
For years, there was a single-wide trailer that sat on this lot. Next to it was a garage. I had been in this trailer several times, years ago, when it belonged to a friend of mine. After my friend moved out, our current neighbors moved in. It was an elderly lady and her son. Before too long, the sewer gave out, the trailer was destroyed, the fence was falling over, and the family renovated the garage and began living in it. The sewer was a mess for a really long time, with sewage leaking out into the street next to a nearby bus stop. Needless to say, the place is a mess.
When they finally completely got rid of the broken down trailer, there was concrete and pipes and junk all over the pad. That stuff stayed there until just recently. The neighbor lady who came to visit told me of the son living with his mother there…he does drugs, has women in and out, and she thinks he was stealing for a while too.
Now, at this point, I started to wonder what all this had to do with me. Like I said, I pretty much keep to myself. I never noticed women in and out because I don’t watch other people’s homes that way. If they were doing drugs, I never saw it. Admittedly, I wasn’t looking for it either. My visitor went on to tell me that the police even asked her and her husband to keep an eye on this home, to which I laughed, “They probably used to have you watching our house too, at one point in time!”
The gist of my new friend’s visit boiled down to a vote. This family wants to move a double-wide trailer onto the existing pad, next to the former garage where they are now living. I’m not even sure how that is physically going to work, but that’s not my issue. The visiting neighbor said the trailer isn’t even a new one; it’s over 20 years old, so she can only imagine what kind of mess that’s going to create. So City Hall is having a meeting next week to determine whether or not these people will get their zoning permit. Meanwhile, the certified letter is an opportunity for neighbors who will have to look at this property to weigh in on whether or not they want to allow it. If three neighbors say no, it’s a done deal.
At first, the lady had me. I’ve got kids. I don’t want drugs being done in my neighborhood. I know it’s happening. The whole town is full of people who do various types of drugs. It’s always been that way, and it has gotten worse in the past few years. I certainly don’t want anyone to be stealing stuff around here either. But, as far as the mess, well, that’s their mess. I’d rather not have a big bunch of junk to look at when I look in my neighbor’s yard, but, honestly, is it any of my business?
Here’s where God started to talk to me. Yes, it is my business. Besides the son, there is elderly lady living over there…in a garage. Did you, the Christian neighbor, offer to come over and help clean up the mess for her? Do you know her name? Have you done anything to try to affect change in what’s going on over there?
Just because I’m not judging them, doesn’t mean I’m helping them.
Conviction.
How can I oppose an action that would give this woman an actual home to live in? How could I hurt her because of the lifestyle of her son? She’s a mother. Regardless of what that man is doing, she obviously loves him. What kind of good mother doesn’t want to help her child, even when they’re doing wrong things?
So I guess the question, for me, is not about the trailer. I couldn’t care less about what kind of structure they have on their property. They can build a big pink chicken coop for all I care. That’s not my concern. What I am concerned about is how can I make a difference to these people? How can I shine God’s light on the situation and perhaps even become an instrument of change for this family? How can I love these people into the Kingdom? And not just them, but all my neighbors?!
See, I don’t think my visiting neighbor intended be catty or cruel. She’s lived here a long time and watched the town go downhill and she’s just tired of it. She’s doing all she knows how to keep it out of her “back yard,” so to speak. But keeping one drug dealer out of our immediate area isn’t going to make nearly the difference that could be made through some other kind of unified efforts. Can we come together and create a rec center for kids to give them something to do besides drugs? Can we create a center for single parents who need help because they’re stressed out and there’s no one home to watch the kids when they’re at work? Can we host 12-step meetings, for free, readily and easily available to the public? Can we promote education and after-school programs and literacy programs? Can we have activities in the community that will pull people together, instead of everyone hiding behind their fences and pretending like nothing is going on until it wants to move in next door?
I don’t know the solution, but I don’t think keeping an old woman from having a home is the right answer for me. I think there are things that need to change and I have kept to myself for so long, I don’t even have a voice in my community. I need to step out and step up and try to help people feel the love of God and the hope that comes with knowing Him. I don’t know how to start. I tried once before and failed miserably. But this tugging at my heart just won’t go away.
Somehow, there’s got to be something we can do. Something I can do. I’m praying, asking God to show me. Meanwhile, I won’t be able to support any efforts to keep this old woman and her son from bettering themselves. God, show me what to do. Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,“ will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know— Someone not impressed with weak excuses. – Proverbs 24:11-12 (MSG)
220 Gal 