neighbors... friends... people.

This line of thought comes from several comments that have been made to me over the past week or so. First of all one of my co-workers was talking about going to the properties we have just off of Broadway in North, and she said, "I do my best not to even get out of the car up there."

Another co-worker was talking about a cruise he may go on. One of the stops is Haiti, and when he listed that stop, he said, "Yeah, there's no way I'm getting off the ship there."

And lastly, I had a friend tell me yesterday, very honestly, that he's intimidated by poverty. And I think that rings true for a lot of people.

Is that because it touches our consciences? Because it's different from what we are used to? Because we feel powerless to help? I think we can talk as much as we want about ways to reform government, bills, non-profits, economic structure (not that those are bad things to talk about, I think they're very important, and also something that is very interesting to me). But if we're afraid to, or too lazy to spend time with the poor, can we really say we have their best interests at heart? Can we really know what their best interests are? Can we respect their culture without knowing their culture? I don't see how we could.

This is no sort of pedestal for myself. There have been many times that the doorbell has rung and I have dreaded answering it because it might be some neighbor kids who want to come up, and I don't think I have the time. There've been many times I've driven past a homeless person and had nothing to give them. Not because I really have nothing, but because last time I was at the store I didn't think to buy pretzels or a box of granola bars for those who really need it. I think about what I should cook, what I should eat, and do not pay attention to the people around me.

Something that's really convicted me lately is at one point in "The Irrisistible Revolution," Shane Claiborne says something to the tune of "Maybe we need to think not so much of what we've given away, but of what we have left." Anything we have left is something we have not given away. And if we still have more than our neighbor, have we really loved our neighbor as ourself? Not that these are easy things to do, and I certainly don't. So I challenge myself, and you. What does truly loving our neighbor look like? And can we truly love them and not act on that love? If we love God, we obey His commands (John 14:21). If we love the poor... do we not share with them both our lives and resources, in order to love our neighbor as ourselves?