Last Sunday night, my wife Becki and I went over the home of one of our neighbors, Venky and Sudha. They are from India (Andra Pradesh). We had a great time eating authentic Indian food and enjoying their home and company.

Venky was a doctor in India, but in order to be able to leave India and come to the US, he had to change his profession to that of an occupational therapist (it is hard for doctors to be allowed to leave India). And to get into the US, they had to first move to Australia for four years, as it is easier to immigrate from Australia to the US.

So how did we get this invitation? Well, through my wife Becki and our children. Venky and Sudha do not have kids, and Sudha really misses India. Her husband works 14 hour days and she is very lonely. But the houses on our street back up into one another, creating an alley that is often lined with moms and other children.

My kids often draw chalk drawings on our driveway. Sudha saw these drawings and told my wife how they reminded her of some of the artwork/drawings that they would often put outside of their houses in India. So Becki started having our kids draw pretty chalk drawings on Venky and Sudha's driveway. This filled Sudha with joy, and she invited Becki to come over to her house. In fact, she said to just come on in any time--you don't have to even knock! Sudha has really wanted to have kids, but has had four miscarriages. So I think that she has taken joy from having our kids around and giving her the "gift" of their artwork.

Last night we also had an invitation to go to with one of the small groups at church to go see fireworks. It would have been a great time, no doubt, and I missed being able to attend. But we could not miss this opportunity to receive the hospitality of this very nice Indian couple. Besides exchanging various pleasantries at dinner and having the usual conversations, I was able to surprise Venky with talking about Andhra Pradesh (a region of India) and the recent political vote there due to my friendship on MON with Jayaraj, a native missionary in Andra Pradesh and a long time friend of mine through this website.

I asked Venky if he spoke Telegu, and Venky was quite surprised that I knew what Telegu was, and yes, he did speak it. (Telegu is the third most common language in India, spoken by millions. And Jayaraj, my native missionary friend, is translating the Story of Redemption into Telegu to share Christ with the people of India). I got Venky's email, and told him I would like to introduce him to my friend Jayaraj in India. He was glad to do this.

Venky and Sudha have a Hindu background, and Sudha showed me a room that she had that was devoted to her Hindu gods. She said that there were so many gods in Hindu. But they seem very open to life and spiritual discussions. In fact, Venky asked me to pray before dinner, saying, Show us how it is done. I was honored to be able to lead this prayer in their home, and share life with them this evening.

We now have new friends in our neighborhood who are warm, hospitable, kind, and in search of something, I believe. We will seek to be true friends, regardless, and our lives are made richer because of them. That is one of the wonderful things about the Washington, D.C. area--you can meet people from all around the world. Of course, we hope to share some of our lives with them, including our faith in Christ. We will throw a party for ESL/FriendSpeak students from our church at our house soon. Perhaps they would be interested in coming to this gathering and meeting others like them who have immigrated to the US.

All of this would not have happened without my wife's warm outreach, my kids' heart for people and creativity, and prayer. We often pray for God to open doors for us to meet people and share our lives and faith with.

If you are looking for a good book and resources on reaching out in your neighborhood, check out The Art of Neighboring book and website, www.artofneighboring.com. There is even a study guide and sermon series on this website. The book makes the point that we are called to love our actual neighbors, not to just make this into a metaphor, but to love those who live right next to us--connecting neighborhoods, throwing block parties, watching our neighbors kids, etc.

How many people might we reach for Christ if we did this? And, regardless of what it led to or not, would not our neighborhoods be better places? Would not our lives be more enriched? Indeed they would, but we must make time in our lives in order to make this happen. Sign our kids up for one less sport. Stop watching tv alone all the time, and start watching shows with neighbors. Going for walks in the neighborhood. Remembering and writing down names of our neighbors. Getting to know their kids and playing with them. Offering to help, and being willing to receive help from our neighbors.

Finally, we should remember that being a good neighbor involves sharing meals together. Jesus shared meals with people. It seemed to be the primary way that he connected with others. And it drew criticism from religious folk. Should not he have been at small group, for instance, on that night? Why was he spending time with this group, rather than church folk? 

The answer is obvious. We need relationships in the church. But we also need to love our neighbors. And introduce our church friends to our non-churched friends. More on that later. Just wanted to share our great experience sharing a meal last night with our new friends from India. 

Who in your neighborhood do you know? How can you know them better? How can you bless their lives and allow yourself to be blessed by them?