I live in the best neighborhood.

By Wayne M

I live in the best neighborhood!  No, this does not mean I live in the most exclusive gated golf enclave with security guards at the gate.  No, it does not mean that I have to endure those crazy ordinances that don’t allow you have a ball on the lawn overnight without having the police called on you, much less have a car parked out on the driveway.  I live in a neighborhood where there is community.

I know that is a crazy word that you don’t hear much about these days.  Well you do hear about it in sales literature for upscale housing developments.  You hear the word at church that they want community, but everyone knows that real community is very hard to come by. 

I live in a neighborhood that has a community of people that care for each other.  Let me explain.  Several years ago, several couples in the neighbor stared getting together to play cards once a month.  I know this is a very simple thing, but it was the genesis of the community that we have now.  After just a little while we were regularly six couples that played the card came called five hundred.  As always in any group of people, there was some couple missing every month, so we had to expand our circle.  I think we are up to about ten couples that move in and out of each others lives.

The game of five hundred is very no threatening, so it is just the tool that brings us all together.  We have really good players and really bad players.  Frankly, it just doesn’t matter the skill level, we are just there to have fun and connect.

Well, this little group has allowed us to get involved in these peoples lives.  We have gotten to know them much better; we have gotten to know their kids.  We have gotten to care for them.  We eat, we drink, we laugh, we cry with, we encourage and we love.

We are not from the same church, or denomination or even cultural background, but we have been able to come together and enjoy community.  The most remarkable thing that has happened with this community is that we can talk about almost anything. 

Let me give you an example.  We were with the group this past Saturday night.  We had an unusually long social time before cards got started.  Several people in the group commented on how much they just loved being with the group.  During this time, I got into a conversation with one of the guys about child rearing.  A very serious question came up like; what is the appropriate way to implement disciple of children in a family, and is it to late to start with this?  This is not a card discussion, this is a counseling discussion.  But you only get opportunities to have these counseling sessions when you are in community with people in a very non-threatening way.

Another example is that several women form this group have gotten involved in a Bible study.  They have been doing a study on there own and now several have joined a bigger group for an ever more intense study of scripture.  None of this would have happened if we were not in community with these people.

The biggest delight I received from this group is when other voice what I am thinking.  This is the most awesome group and we love getting together.

Like I said, I live in the best neighborhood!  I pray to God that he continues to bless our neighborhood.