GOOD NEIGHBORS

   My late wife, Carol, and I bought our first house in 1974. It was located just north of Cherrydale in Greenville, SC. That house then cost $18,000. It was a pre-owned, 1050 sq. ft. house, that sat on a small lot. An older neighbor rang our doorbell and welcomed us.

“Hi, I’m Ralph Gerald,” he said. “I live up the street. This is a good neighborhood. Nobody bothers anybody.”

I wondered if our neighbors would be friendly and if Mr. Gerald was giving me a warning — a warning not to bother anyone. LOL.

“Love your neighbor as yourself; but don’t take down the fence,” Carl Sandburg said.

Arthur Baer quipped, “A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it.”

Harry S. Truman said, “In order to have good neighbors, we must also be good neighbors. That applies in every field of human endeavor.” 

Carol and I liked the house we bought and learned to love our neighbors. 

In the book titled Can a Busy Christian Develop Her Spiritual Life? Jill Briscoe wrote this: 

“Years ago, as I waited in line at a local shop, I heard the gossip. My neighbor’s husband had left her. The night before he had packed his things into a van and driven out of her life.

“I knew my neighbor casually. When we did speak, which wasn’t often, it was about the weather. Our subdivision was the type where people led their own lives and neighbors didn’t really get to know one another. 

“When I returned home, I struggled with what to do. Should I visit my neighbor, or pretend I knew nothing about her situation and go on with my day? In my mind I could see her sitting at her kitchen table, alone. She was in her fifties and the kids were grown. 

“Finally, I got up the courage and walked over to her house. When she opened her door, I said, “I heard through the grapevine your husband left you last night. Can I do anything to help?”

“Immediately, she burst into tears and said, ‘Come in. Come in.’ I spent the entire morning with her — listening, putting my arm around her, and having coffee. But it was the start of a relationship.”     

“And who is my neighbor?” A lawyer asked Jesus.

Jesus answered: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 

“So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 

The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” 

And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” 

  — (From Luke 10:25-37 ESV)
 
  NEIGHBOR Verses (from ESVersion)

“Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor” (Proverbs 14:21).

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16).

“Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away” (Proverbs 27:10b).

“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1:17).

“‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Jesus in Mark 12:30-31).

DETECTING A SCAM

  

  One morning, sitting at the dining room table, I answered the phone after one ring — should have let the answering machine get it. 

“Hello, Grandpa,” a male voice said. 

“Hello,” I said, knowing I don’t have grandchildren.

“This is Kyle,” he said. “I’ve had an accident in Georgia, and they’ve brought me to the police department because my car’s messed up and there are some minor charges. I hope you can help me by calling my lawyer.” 

I thought it might be Kyle, Barbara’s grandson who is his thirties. Once, while he was over at our house and helping his father, Jack, Barbara’s son, work in the garage out back, he called me “grandpa.” 

“The officer has given me only a few minutes to call,” he said. My case number is _______ (he gave me a long list of numbers). Please call my lawyer.” 

I asked, “What is your mother’s name?”

“Officer, I’m getting off now, … .” he said.

The phone went dead. 

Barbara wondered what I was doing.

“He says he’s Kyle and has been in a wreck and is Georgia,” I said. “I’m pretty sure it’s a scam.” 

I called the number for his “lawyer.” 

“Hello,” a nice lady’s voice said. I think she gave me a name. I told her the case number. 

“Yes, we have that here,” she said. I think she gave me Kyle’s name. “What is your name?”

“My name is Steve,” I said.

“What is your last name?” she asked. 

“I’d rather not say,” I said..

“We can’t give out details of the case unless you give us your last name,” she said.

I hung up the phone.

Barbara called Jack. He said his son Kyle was not in Georgia.

DECEPTION

Craig Brian Larson tells this story: 

The Portia spider is a predator whose chief weapon is deception. To begin with, says Robert R. Jackson in National Geographic, the spider looks like a piece of dried leaf or foliage blown into the web. When it attacks other species of spiders, it uses a variety of methods to lure the host spider into striking range. 

Sometimes it crawls onto the web and taps the silken threads in a manner that mimics the vibrations of a mosquito caught in the web. The host spider comes out for dinner and instead becomes a meal itself. 

The Portia spider can tailor its deception for its prey. With a type of spider that maintains its home inside a rolled-up leaf, the Portia dances on the outside of the leaf, imitating a mating ritual. 

Jackson writes, “Portia can find a signal for just about any spider by trial and error. It makes different signals until the victim spider finally responds — then keeps making the signal that works.” 

Like the Portia spider, Satan’s weapon of choice is deception.   

THE BIBLE on DECEIT

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:22a ESV).

“Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue” (Psalm 120:2). 

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (Jesus words in John 8:44).  

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8 ESV).  

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).