ChosenRebel's Blog

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There is a text in the book of Acts that I have always found intriguing: (See Acts 17:26)

²⁶ and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

God appoints the times and the boundaries of all the peoples of the earth. I think that means that not only are the ethnic peoples of the earth guided by the hand of God with regard to their times and places on the earth, but it must also means that my (and your) individual neighbors and you yourself (as well as me) are where we are by the purpose of God. I don’t understand it. But I want to respond to the knowledge of what the Scripture says with faith and obedience.

This week, I heard of a story of a family who took this idea to heart. Husband was engaged in some project when his wife thought she heard an ambulance and urged him to drop his project and see if a neighbor needed help. As the wife prayed, the husband wandered outside and down the street where two ambulances were engaged four houses away. When he arrived at the home, the paramedics were about to close the door on their patient.

“I’m a neighbor and a Christian from up the street. Does the family need any help?”

One paramedic looked suspiciously, but one smiled and said, “He’s doing a lot better than when we first got here.”

“Does the family need any help?

Paramedic: “You can check.”

As I heard, the story, husband knocked on the door, introduced himself to a neighbor he had never done more than wave to and prayed for, was welcomed in and was invited to pray for a family in need. I had to write about this story this evening because it is a perfect example of a concept that I have written about a number of times over the years. 

• What does it mean to be “intensely local” in our life focus (see also, and also)?
• What does it look like to begin to treat neighbors like family (see also)?
• What does it look like to care for your neighbors at their point of need?
• And how can we develop patterns of behavior that open up doors from the crisis of life to the times between the crises’s of life?

I’m kind of looking forward to the next ambulance in our neighborhood. And I hope you are as inspired as I am by this couple’s example.

Let’s go love some neighbors to Jesus.

Go out and be a “chaplain to your neighborhood”.