Just last night I saw E sitting alone at McDonalds. E is an Italian lady from my neighborhood. It was odd to me to see that she was sitting all alone because normally the older Italians in my neighborhood group together. I was at McDonalds to do some English tutoring but my students didn’t show up, which is not atypical, so I went and sat by E to speak with her. I began to speak with her about the neighborhood, which is always a good conversation starter with old New Yorkers. She’s lived here most of her life, and says that it’s changing so much… and not in a good way. E told me that there is a hatred that has infiltrated the community and that this hate will bring about ruin to the place she has long called home. She’s concerned about the slashing’s that have been occurring recently and about the economy. She says that soon there won’t even be money left for the schools…
While I was with her I agreed that many of her fears she held to were valid, yet I also shared that I have a greater hope and trust in Jesus. I shared what Jesus said about worry, about how “by worrying we cannot change anything.” …She of course agreed, yet this teaching is easy to believe in our heads and difficult to live out. Intuitively, I felt like there was a level of receptivity in her response to my sharing, so I kept going and I asked, “by living out of boldness and not out of fear, by helping our neighbor and loving the people around us, what do we have to lose? If we follow the ways of Christ doesn’t our neighborhood again become a place we can be proud of? A little bit of heaven on earth?” E looked at me with a little sadness and shook her head, “I wish it could be like that, but not everyone will live that way.” She’s right of course, but it starts with her, and it starts with me.
Please Pray that E would find comfort in Christ and that the change she hopes will occur in neighborhood would first occur in her and then through her.
While I was with her I agreed that many of her fears she held to were valid, yet I also shared that I have a greater hope and trust in Jesus. I shared what Jesus said about worry, about how “by worrying we cannot change anything.” …She of course agreed, yet this teaching is easy to believe in our heads and difficult to live out. Intuitively, I felt like there was a level of receptivity in her response to my sharing, so I kept going and I asked, “by living out of boldness and not out of fear, by helping our neighbor and loving the people around us, what do we have to lose? If we follow the ways of Christ doesn’t our neighborhood again become a place we can be proud of? A little bit of heaven on earth?” E looked at me with a little sadness and shook her head, “I wish it could be like that, but not everyone will live that way.” She’s right of course, but it starts with her, and it starts with me.
Please Pray that E would find comfort in Christ and that the change she hopes will occur in neighborhood would first occur in her and then through her.
G.B. Mission Catalyst Bronx NY
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