Won’t You Be My Neighbor…
by Peggy Farrington / Office Manager and Administrative Assistant
I’m quite sure that I’m not the only one who has been glued to the Weather Channel the last couple of weeks. To watch Hurricane Irma hit the small islands of the Florida Keys was just so sad. Bob and I have friends that live down there year-round and they still don’t know what shape their home is in, let alone if they still have homes.
And yet to see the stories that are coming out of the Keys in the midst of this devastation is amazing. Stranger helping stranger. Neighbors helping neighbors. Sharing what supplies they have left. Helping people to evacuate, helping them collect their most precious belongings out of their home that has been destroyed by water or wind. They were interviewing a lady whose home was just destroyed. Gone. There is nothing salvageable. Yet she smiled at the camera and said that her neighbor was helping her and her family by letting them live in their home that was left untouched by the storm. She smiled through her tears and said, “Isn’t God good? God is still faithful, I’ll be okay because God’s got this.” Wow! Just wow! That is only one story of neighbor helping neighbor. Stranger helping stranger. What a beautiful difference they are making by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
It has certainly caused me to stop and pause and think … what am I doing for my neighbor? They may not need food or housing. Do I even know what their needs are? Am I even making a difference to the people that live the closest to me? Are you?
I’m quite sure that I’m not the only one who has been glued to the Weather Channel the last couple of weeks. To watch Hurricane Irma hit the small islands of the Florida Keys was just so sad. Bob and I have friends that live down there year-round and they still don’t know what shape their home is in, let alone if they still have homes.
And yet to see the stories that are coming out of the Keys in the midst of this devastation is amazing. Stranger helping stranger. Neighbors helping neighbors. Sharing what supplies they have left. Helping people to evacuate, helping them collect their most precious belongings out of their home that has been destroyed by water or wind. They were interviewing a lady whose home was just destroyed. Gone. There is nothing salvageable. Yet she smiled at the camera and said that her neighbor was helping her and her family by letting them live in their home that was left untouched by the storm. She smiled through her tears and said, “Isn’t God good? God is still faithful, I’ll be okay because God’s got this.” Wow! Just wow! That is only one story of neighbor helping neighbor. Stranger helping stranger. What a beautiful difference they are making by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
It has certainly caused me to stop and pause and think … what am I doing for my neighbor? They may not need food or housing. Do I even know what their needs are? Am I even making a difference to the people that live the closest to me? Are you?
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25:40