Trying to Be Neighborly

So, after being discouraged yesterday, I rested in the afternoon and headed out around five to do our grocery shopping for the week.  I had two pieces of chicken marinating in the fridge for dinner.  I pulled into the carport at a few minutes before seven, and who do I find walking up to our house, but our neighbor (the second one)!  And she was carrying these gorgeous flowers and a wine bag! 

It wasn't so much drop-in-company as Gretchen-dropped-the-ball-company, because when I spoke to her last Saturday, I had originally asked if she could come on Thursday at seven.  I thought that she was waiting to hear back from me about whether the first neighbor lady could come.  I should have called her back to check in, but just assumed we were off . . . and she assumed we were on. 

"Sweety, Alice is here!"  Thankfully, my husband is very good at taking things in stride and rose to the occasion, sipping wine and chatting with her while I quickly put together dinner and prayed a lot.  I was so thankful that I'd skipped my last stop and just come home, right on time!  I was so thankful that I had just bought a huge piece of salmon on a whim, and more red potatoes than I'd planned on, and stocked up on broccoli.  That's what we had.  And I was incredibly thankful when the salmon came out perfectly, even though it was my first time cooking it on the grill. 

Partly, the flowers and wine made me feel a bit intimidated.  While it might have been the humble thing to do to admit my fault in forgetting about her, I didn't want to ruin any rapport we were starting to build by admitting to so great a fault!  And even though Christians can get together and have macaroni and cheese and apple slices and be perfectly happy, I felt that she had a right to expect a really nice dinner, especially since she brought us really nice gifts. 

It went well, in that the food tasted good, she stayed a good while, and went back home before the conversation started dying.  But spiritually, I don't know.  I wasn't prepared and wasn't praying enough about it before-hand.  We talked a little about the churches we grew up in, but I still feel at a loss to say the right thing at the right moment to get her thinking.  She is powerless against our prayers . . .

She's a GIRL!!

I told John that I could hardly sleep last night, because I felt like I was waiting for Christmas morning!  Then, this morning, it felt like family conference days again - when you're really too tired to get up, but there's so much to look forward to during the day.  We had our "big" ultrasound today and we're very thankful that everything looked good!

Our sonogram tech was wonderful.  It's hard to believe that it's real!

In other news, our attempts to have our neighbors over have been discouraging so far.  Each of the occupied houses nearest us are homes to single ladies, and we've chatted with both on occasion.  The goal was to invite them over together, so we called them both on Saturday night.  We left a message for the first, but the second sounded enthusiastic and said to let her know when the first lady could come for sure.  We met with neighbor #1 on Monday when we were putting out our garbage, and she thanked us but made excuses ("so busy with work" etc.).  I think she just really doesn't want to come over.  So we haven't called the other lady back yet.  Last night at prayer meeting, the man leading the devotional read a quote about how people may reject us and our message, but they are powerless against our prayers.  I need to pray more, definitely . . . and maybe try the second lady again.

p.s. We haven't decided on names yet, but have decided to keep our little girl's name a surprise until birth!

Now I've been to the OBX

John and I have been gone more than we've been home in the past week.  :-)  Last weekend, we traveled to Kentucky for a wedding, and Monday through Wednesday we were at the Outer Banks with our church's youth retreat.  I'd heard many reports of the beauty of the Outer Banks, so when the opportunity arose, John volunteered us as chaperons.  But, really, there wasn't much work to be done and we had a wonderful, edifying time ourselves.

The retreat speaker was Pastor Steve Gambill from the Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville, TN and whoever got him to come, whoa, made a good choice.  He shared with us his testimony--how God graciously took away his wife and his rock band in order to draw him toward Himself--and he preached to us the gospel. 

1 Corinthians 15 - Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . .

The things that are of first importance.  These are what he called us back to.  Christ, and His saving work.  Holding fast Christ, in His death and resurrection, unites all true believers and I was ashamed to think of how much of my time I spend focused on far lesser things.

Then there was excellently crafted teaching on Christian liberty--which we have, but we have in trust.  He challenged us, straight from the Scripture, to ask ourselves "Is this helpful?  Excellent?  Will it edify?  Does it enslave me?"  Our involvement with the world, he said, should be marked by discerning engagement. 

We talked about how, really, to grow in fruit without trying to do it all ourselves.  After all, it is God who sanctifies as well as justifies.  And it is the Holy Spirit's work.  We left the beach with my earnest secret prayers and desires that I wouldn't come off this spiritual high unchanged. 

It helped that when we got back, we went straight to prayer meeting.  Pastor Steve had been asked to give us a report on the church in Nashville, which he did, candidly recounting the church's history and their current efforts.  When he started telling of their recent, on-going efforts to reach out to a low-income apartment building full of needy, needy souls, my heart was full.  Christ is so real to him and He is becoming real to them.  John and I were sitting near him, and while the men closed by praying for these real people who are prostitutes and drug-addicts, that man was weeping. 

The question for us is how can we "go and do likewise"?  We live in a neighborhood, and can we not reach out to them?  John and I are trying to start by having our nearest neighbors over for dinner next week.  My fear is that we'll establish a friendly relationship and nothing more . . . Oh, for such a passion for Christ and His kingdom!

Community Contacts

Yesterday morning found me sitting in my car in the Walmart parking lot waiting for a call before driving the 30 minutes home.  (And, no worries, it was completely light out, it was a public place, my doors were locked and my windows open only a little!)  Anyway, two people stopped by.

The first was a pizza boy, giving me this:

I said "thank you" and went back to my, ahem, sudoku game.  I recently tried sudoku for the first time and am already finding it a little addicting. 

The second was a 50ish man in a white-collared shirt.  He spoke to me first, betraying a very southern accent, "Ma'am, may I ask you to read a gospel tract?"  And he stuck these through my window:

I was quick to reply, "I think you should save them for somebody else, because I'm already a Christian!" 

But he interrupted me with a, "It wouldn't do any harm!" 

At that point I realized my Bible was on the seat beside me.  "See?  I just came from a Bible study!"  Well, I think he believed me then, because he said "Praise the Lord!" and asked me where I went to hurch.  He must have really wanted to get rid of those tracts, though, because he left them with me and asked me to pray for his church. 

And that is what happens when you're sitting in the Walmart parking lot. 

Of perhaps a more serious nature, on Friday night when I was getting gas I accidentally locked my keys in my car.  Since I always pay at the pump, I wouldn't have gone into the gas station otherwise.  But as it was, I went in to keep warm while I waited for AAA. 

It turned out, the other guy sitting at the lone table inside was homeless.  I see homeless people a lot (and John says, "Welcome to our town!"), but this one was different.  Usually they're waiting by the side of the road holding up a sign asking for help.  John and I have decided that, when presented with the opportunity, we'll offer them food instead of money.  This time, however, there was no sign, and we chatted for about 10 minutes before it came up that he was living in a tent near the gas station.  There's a construction project going on nearby and he's hoping to get work there.  It sounded like he was doing all right until the economy hit bottom.

I realized how blessed I was to be going home to a warm, cozy place filled with necessary and unnecessary life goods.  I asked him if he ever went to church, but didn't have the boldness of the man who accosted me in the Walmart parking lot. 

Sunday evening, on our way to church, John and I stopped at the gas station to see if we could pick him up.  The ladies behind the counter said that they hadn't seen him all day.  He missed Pastor Fisher preaching on why God is good to unbelievers from Romans 2, which would have been perfect.  But later that evening as we drove by, we noticed him outside in front of it.  So, we plan to try again next Lord's Day.  If you remember, I'm sure that this man could use your prayers.