Monday Musings - Who Lives Next Door?

Who lives next door?  That has not ever been a very tough question for me!  For most of my adult life, I have lived in a neighborhood of single family homes - your traditional neighborhood.  Urban living is quite different!

My street could possibly have 350 to 400 people living on it.  Now - I like to know everyone on my street, so that is a rather daunting task!  Well, I decided to tackle it a small bite at a time.  I invited the four buildings to the north of me over for dessert and coffee yesterday.  Out of a possible 17 possible guests (including 4 kids), I had 8 come.  I thought that was a pretty good turn out!  Most of these people had never met each other - even some of the people in the same building!  It was fun to meet each one and to see them enjoy each other.

Among the group, there was a married couple who has lived on the street since 1993.  It is second marriage so there is some yours, mine and ours in the discussion!  Geoff's daughter grew up in Downer's Grove and as it turned out, graduated from high school with one of our other neighbors, Jennifer.  What are the chances of that!?! 

Next door to Geoff and Deb are two older men that have lived on the street since 1980, Jim and Kelly.  They have seen a lot of changes over the years.  They are both writers and political activists.  Kelly is blind.  He does remarkably well around here.  He takes the train to work every day.  I really admire that kind of spunk!  They had some great stories and are a piece of Chicago history themselves!

Two buildings up from them is the building where Jennifer and Rebecca live.  They just moved in October 1st.  They are not new to Chicago but they are new to our street.  They both went to the University of Illinois.  They are the age of my daughters, so I loved them immediately.  Rebecca teaches Phys Ed in the Chicago Public Schools.  Jennifer works for a firm that does market analysis for the restaurant industry.  They are beautiful girls who are full of energy.  I look forward to getting to know them better.


In that same building on the 3rd floor are Ryan and Alison.  They have been married for a year or so and are an adorable couple.  We discovered quickly that we both love the Lord!  It was so exciting!!  Alison is an accountant so she and Alan got to talk some number talk.  Ryan is a structural engineer.  We look forward to spending more time with them and together, reaching out to our neighborhood in the name of Christ. 


I invited the three buildings to the south of me over for next Sunday, so we will see who else we meet!  I'm so excited to see what the Lord is up to.


The Lord has placed you on the street where you live for a purpose.  It is no accident that you are in that house, in that apartment, in that place, by those people!  Be an initiator!  You don't have to do anything fancy.  You can't get much easier than coffee and dessert.  You may not become best friends with everyone you meet, but you also may come across a lifelong friend.  You may encourage someone else to get out and meet some people.  You might really get something started on your street!  

The Lord loves and cares for all those who are around you.  He could use your hands and feet to love on them.  He could use your words to encourage them.  You never know how much a small word of warmth and encouragement can make a difference to someone.  There are a lot of great people out there.  I don't know about you - but I want to meet as many of them as possible!


As far as I am concerned, the whole world is one big neighborhood.  Let's all be good neighbors.