Perhaps I’ve told you before about a girl with whom we’ve developed a relationship in our neighborhood over the past couple years. I’ll call her Beth. She’s eleven now and taller than I am.

A few weeks ago when Donn and I were crossing her street during our evening walk, Beth spotted us, as she often does, and came running for a hug. As usual, she started to fill us in on what was happening in her life. (We’d never met anyone else in her family until her nineteen-year-old sister brought her to the playground the other day.)

That evening, Beth was accompanied by a friend I’ll call Sally that we’d never met, but she was soon pouring out her heart to us as Beth does. Some of the things she  told us raised concerns about whether or not she is safe.

When Donn and I got home, we sat on our porch swing to read. After a few minutes, the thought crossed my mind, Those girls don’t even know where we live. I wish I had a way to tell them, so that if they needed a safe place, they’d know where we are.    

Just then I glanced toward the sidewalk and coming down Second Avenue were Beth and Sally! They didn’t see us because our house faces Plum Street. Without hesitating, I cupped my hand to my mouth and shouted, “Beth!!”

The girls both turned and saw us and started running toward us. They sat down on our lawn chairs and we visited for awhile. When they left, Beth said, “We’ll be back!”

The next day, they were at our door. I went out to chat with them, as they enjoyed our porch swing. Sally began to tell me more about herself, including the fact that she loved to read. When I asked what kind of books she liked, she named a few, including The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. My ears perked up! “What do you like best about that book?”

Beth answered, so apparently she had also read the book. “I loved it when Aslan rose from the dead.”

I was overjoyed as we talked about the meaning of the word “symbolism” and the symbolism of Aslan rising from the dead. Soon Beth said, “I was really wondering what the inside of your house is like.”

I laughed and said, “You’re welcome to come in if you think your parents wouldn’t care.”

When they assured me their parents wouldn’t mind, I took them in and gave them a tour of our house. They loved the paintings by my friend, Rachel Griffin, the many things from Japan, and the toys we have for Sarah. Finally, when I ushered them out, they said again, “We’ll be back!”

That evening on our walk, we met another neighbor (an adult) from our street who was out for her walk. We hadn’t seen her for awhile and soon she began to pour out her heart to us about the hard things in her life. Our relationship up until that evening had been lighthearted, with no indication of the difficulties.

 When finally we moved on, my heart was full with the depth God is taking us to in our neighbors’ lives. When we moved to Greenville, I vowed that I would learn our neighbors’ names and make getting to know them a priority. I have a list of names on the side of our refrigerator that I add to whenever we meet someone new.

After we got home, Donn went out to the porch swing to wait for me to read with him. Soon he came into the house and dashed past me, calling,“Someone just said there’s smoke coming out of our garage!”

Sure enough when I went out the back door, smoke was pouring out of the garage, and Donn already had the hose, spraying the source of the fire back in his work area. When I left the garage to get a fire extinguisher, the couple who’d told Donn about the smoke, people I’d never seen before, were still standing on the sidewalk. They asked if they should call the fire department. Donn said no, and I relayed that, as well as our thanks, before I hurried to get the fire extinguisher.

Donn continued to spray his shop vac, the source of the fire, with the hose and then with the fire extinguisher, before dragging the completely ruined vac outside. He said three hours earlier, when he’d been working on his bowl hobby and sweeping up sawdust intermittently, he’d seen sparks. But when he checked the contents of the shop vac before going into the house, he had seen no sign of sparks. However, three hours later, the vac was in full blaze.

We are so thankful to God that Donn was sitting on the porch and that God sent those unknown neighbors at just the right time to warn him before the fire was out of control, or the outcome could have been very different. Our hearts are full as we consider our neighbors.

Father, thank you so much for our neighbors, those we’ve been able to help and those who’ve helped us. We are so very grateful. Amen.

Update: Last night “Beth” came to visit us again, carrying a doll and a diaper bag. (She is such a dichotomy—one day telling us about kissing her boy friend and the next, appearing with her doll.) She told us she’d gotten the diaper bag at the yard sale at her church last week. We were surprised, not knowing that she went to church. She said her neighbor has been taking her to that Baptist Church for seven years and that in 2020, she read the entire Bible! We are so blessed by this evidence that God has already been at work in this young lady’s life, giving thanks that another Christian neighbor has been involved in Beth’s life for seven years.