I was walking my dog, Beau, the other night when I started to look, really look, at my neighborhood. I walked past a house where little kids had played the summer before while their mom sat on the front porch watching them. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her or the children for months. Just the dad. And a single car in the driveway.
I walked past a house where the curtains remained drawn. I knew someone lived there because the beat-up truck parked outside left a growing grease stain on the driveway. In a neighborhood with almost free irrigation water, the only green thing in this front yard was an abundance of goat head. Everything else was parched.
Another neighbor knelt beside a flower bed in her immaculate yard. She was out there most days, weeding, trimming, planting, and loving on her flowers. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her husband in a while. Was he ill?
Then there’s the neighbor who watches his dogs as they potty on my front lawn without saying a word; the couple who take a walk twice a day, like clockwork, and always stop to stroke the fat cat sitting on the sidewalk. Who are these people and why do I still not know their names?
This little light of mine, the old children’s song plays through my mind and pierces my heart. I'm gonna let it shine! Hmmm. Not sure there’s much of that going on at the moment. But, oh! How I want it to! And perhaps a good way for it to start is by praying for my neighbors as I walk every day. That I can do!
And I believe when I start praying for them—I will begin to see them as Jesus does. I really want that. Don’t you? Shall we do it together? Prayer walking through our neighborhoods, through our cities, letting the light and love of Jesus flow through us and into lives desperate for it.
“Many more people are ready to respond to God than we can possibly imagine! And they are ready to respond now! When we talk of doing evangelism, we often say that very few are interested in our message. That’s what we see, not what God sees. God sees an entire field ripe and ready to respond. Prayer will help them come out from the crowd.”—In the Name of Jesus, p. 24, Ron Clouzet.
We can do this, friends! Do you want to join me? Let me know karen.pearson3@gmail.com I’m praying for your heartfelt response. Let's change the world for Jesus. Beginning with our neighborhoods.
Keep looking up! Jesus is coming soon!
Pastor Karen