The Good Neighbor

Romans 13 Owe no one anything except to love each other; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments....are summed up in this word, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

On Monday Justin and I took Hamza and his grandmother to Wolfson for his final check up and Hamza was released to return to Iraq.

Being from the southernmost part of the US, I have met few people from Iraq. Most of what I know about Iraq I learned from the nightly news. But today, I fell in love with an Iraqi child.

Hamza is unique. He is the most social of children. He spoke to, and knew, most of the people at the hospital and laughter followed with him wherever he went. He is chatty and witty and eager to teach me to speak Kurdish and Arabic. I was terrible at both languages and this was amusing to Hamza. He speaks enough English to converse in simple conversations.

I watched Hamza today with great interest. He engages with everyone and that is unusual today. As he went around the hospital making friends and bringing happiness, he shakes hands and is genuinely interested in the people that he meets. I watched him break a banana in as many pieces as possible to share with the other children. He cleared all our plates after lunch and offered to us all a part of his snack.

Hamza is a good neighbor. He has Christ like qualities which is to be expected since he has accepted Yeshua as His Lord since he has been at Shevet Achim. Since being here in Jerusalem Hamza not only had his physical heart repaired but thanks to the beneficence of Shevet Achim, Wolfson Medical Center and generous people who donate to the work here, his spiritual heart was healed by Christ as well.

Love does NO wrong to a neighbor.

Who is my neighbor? Well, today Hamza from Iraq is my neighbor and Justin from LA, Robin from San Diego, Donna from Georgia, Dr Tamir from Jerusalem, Dr Abraham from Ethiopia.

The time has come to wake from sleep. The world is larger every day and smaller all the time. Awake. Awaken, O sleeper for salvation is closer than ever before. The return of Christ is closer than ever before. Eternity is closer than ever before.

Luke 10 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And He said to him, You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, 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 innkeepers, 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? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise.

I'm still new here and I don't understand all the history and disputes over the land. I don't understand all the heartache and poverty that they face. I don't understand the language and still get confused over the money sometimes. But I know this: these children are the most precious and gracious children that I have ever know. They are playful, friendly, compassionate to each other and generous beyond anything I have ever seen. Their mothers, who sometimes have so little, break what they have and share it with us. If there are only chairs enough for us they insist on sitting in the floor. We are offered food and drinks wherever we go. The have shown me what it means to be a good neighbor. And frankly, it makes me ashamed of myself.

Father, thank You for the opportunity to come here. Thank You for Hamza and all of the children here and for what they and their mothers have taught me about being a good neighbor. In the states, even if we are middle class, we have so much compared to some of the families here. Help us Lord to be good neighbors to all those around the world who have so little in terms of tangible assets and so much in terms of heart. Forgive us for our selfishness and greed. Give us the Christ-like quality of mercy and a heart for our neighbors.