Economic Realities

This week some of our friends and neighbors lost their house. It came as a surprise to me when they came over on Monday to tell me that they had moved out over the weekend. We have been neighbors for 12 years and my kids babysat their kids. We shared many a chat over the backyards and have shoveled more neighborhood driveways together than I would care to count. And now their house stands as a silent sentinel to dashed hopes and dreams, as well as the current economic realities.

More than the shock that the foreclosure crisis has reared its ugly head on the street where I live--and with good, solid, hard-working people--is the shock that I knew nothing of their distress. I don't know what I could have done, but I feel like there must have been something. Even if it would have been to let our friends know that they did not need to face this crisis alone.

Now it makes me wonder how many other people I know who look just fine on the outside, but are experiencing gut-wrenching hardships beneath the surface. I fully understand the whole, "I will take care of it myself" mindset. In part because I would probably be my neighbor--no one would know about the difficulty until it was a done deal. Self-disclosure, particularly of things that smack of failure to me, just doesn't happen. Some would say that I am missing the opportunity for support from those who care. I do not disagree, but I suppose that I am not yet convinced that it is worth the personal price.

Something makes me think that the early church would not have been caught unawares. Not that they were perfect, but that they were invested and involved with each other that a world-shaking crisis would not pass under the collective radar. I both want and need that kind of friendship. My current small group (the best in the universe) may be the environment for that kind of friendship. It sure feels like it has more promise than I have ever felt before. We seem to be able to be open and candid with each other about things that matter--the good and the difficult. The group is a breath of fresh air and I will miss them while I am in foreign lands the next few weeks.

I should let my group know how important they are becoming to me--and perhaps that will be another step toward real community.

Pressing On!