Crossroads Celebration Church

When mom died earlier this year, my extended family told some great stories. Here’s one that I knew very little about. My mom’s parents raised seven children and were very poor. They moved into a little bungalow in Spencer, Iowa. Next door was a little bigger house and a little fancier with a white picket fence. All I ever knew was that one should never allow a ball to go over that white fence. With seven children there were a lot of grandchildren and we couldn’t all fit into the bungalow on summer days so we were in the back yard playing some kind of ball. Well of course the ball would occasionally go over and with fear and trepidation someone would quickly go and retrieve it. I knew only of that white fence and the rule of the ball and that fence. All other neighboring fences were ok.

Now as an adult the rest of the story unfolded. My grandfather and the man of the house with the white picket fence didn’t get along. The neighbor seemed to like to call the police on my uncle Bob. The youngest and maybe the most precocious. So one night, grandpa and grandma heard noises outside. The neighbor with the fence was digging up gravel (stealing) from my grandparents driveway. Grandpa wanted to call the police for all the times the neighbor called about my uncle. Well grandma said, “What would Jesus do” or something to that affect. The police weren’t called.

Making the story shorted, both men died. Grandma asked her two daughters about mending fences and inviting the widow neighbor lady over for coffee or lunch. My mom and my aunt suggested that would be a great idea. Grandma made the first step and invited the neighbor lady over. Then grandma got invited over and well they became friends. At my grandmothers funeral, the neighbor lady came and stood at her casket for the longest time, saying nothing and then finally she said, “Jennie, you taught be how to love. I’ll miss you.”

Despite keeping balls out of the neighbors yards and gravel stealing in the middle of the night, God breaks through and shows two people how to be true neighbors and how to love. Jesus was once asked, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, about enemies setting aside their differences and making sacrifices.

Don’t let fences keep you from doing God’s work of loving and caring for people. Reach out or over if that’s the case and offer a blessing to that person who may not like your balls flying into their yard. Overlook the petty offenses and live as Jesus taught and as he set the example for us. Be a good neighbor.