Julie and I as most of you know have left our home and family in the beautiful piedmont of North Carolina for the community of Rocky Point, NC about 12 miles from Wilmington, NC. We are new residents in a brand new subdivision called the Knolls at Turkey Creek. If you are wondering if there is an actual creek near the neighborhood, the answer is yes.
In our 19 years of marriage we have lived in four previous neighborhoods. We have had neighbors that we loved and cared for greatly and others, well let's just say we had to call the police on more than one occasion. So back to the new neighborhood. When we first looked at the house we now live in we met the first couple that moved into the subdivision and I told them that I was a local pastor.
Many of the neighbors approach me with, "We have heard that you are a Pastor." I'm not ashamed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, however sometimes people don't give you the benefit of the doubt and actually fear you to the point that they go the other way when they see you coming without even knowing anything actually about you.
So my new approach with our new neighbors that have moved in on either side of us is not to mention what I do for a living. I have invited one of them to church and mentioned to the other that I have a great faith in Jesus, but I haven't told them that I am a minister. I guess I want them to get to know us before they find out. So many people put up such a bogus façade when they know what you do and you never get the opportunity to get to know them. I have always been quick to let everyone know what I do in the past, but this time we will see if we make better friends and good neighbors for how we live instead of telling people what we do and setting the bar so high in the first encounter that you never get that chance. After all, we are just people like everyone else, we just have a great responsibility when it comes to humanity.
In our 19 years of marriage we have lived in four previous neighborhoods. We have had neighbors that we loved and cared for greatly and others, well let's just say we had to call the police on more than one occasion. So back to the new neighborhood. When we first looked at the house we now live in we met the first couple that moved into the subdivision and I told them that I was a local pastor.
Many of the neighbors approach me with, "We have heard that you are a Pastor." I'm not ashamed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, however sometimes people don't give you the benefit of the doubt and actually fear you to the point that they go the other way when they see you coming without even knowing anything actually about you.
So my new approach with our new neighbors that have moved in on either side of us is not to mention what I do for a living. I have invited one of them to church and mentioned to the other that I have a great faith in Jesus, but I haven't told them that I am a minister. I guess I want them to get to know us before they find out. So many people put up such a bogus façade when they know what you do and you never get the opportunity to get to know them. I have always been quick to let everyone know what I do in the past, but this time we will see if we make better friends and good neighbors for how we live instead of telling people what we do and setting the bar so high in the first encounter that you never get that chance. After all, we are just people like everyone else, we just have a great responsibility when it comes to humanity.
