What if the neighbors are weird....

"Why don't they just learn English?"  I hear it, I use to say it.  That is until I started teaching English as a Second Language.  And maybe it was challenging because I had an hour training session and was given a class to teach!  Baptism by fire is what I believe it is called.  It ended up being the adventure of at least this part of my lifetime, an adventure that changed my heart and my footsteps.  An adventure I never intended to take, but was drawn by the desire to walk where Jesus walked.  To walk in faith that Jesus was with me and to walk in the love Jesus desires us to have for our neighbors. 

I discovered a few things, the first thing was how difficult learning English really is.  I was taking a foreign language class at the same time I was teaching English.  The foreign language has rules that it follows.  If you can read it, you can pronounce it.  English is full of exceptions and silent letters.  It takes a child, whose minds are like sponges, four years to be textbook fluent in another language.  English is hard.  As I have entered adulthood I have recognized that my mind is less like a sponge and learning and retaining something new is difficult, and at five years of studying this language, I am still not textbook fluent. 

The other thing that hit me was that maybe the neighbors were not so weird after all.  Language barrier seemed to be the biggest fear and the biggest obstacle.  I was surprised to find that it is overcome-able.  That, yes, there were moments where I had to take a deep breath and dive into the unknown, but smiles, laughter, and large hand gestures can be very effective.  Now, I might not have been able to discuss politics, but maybe that is for the best.  I also discovered that I had far more things in common with my students than I would have ever considered.  And they were the important things.  Love of family.  Faith in God.  Hope for a better future.  The best for their children.  A job to work at.  Food to eat.  Clothes to wear.  The love of laughter.  Curiosity.  The love of music.  All the things that make us human.  I began to appreciate more and more the fact that my neighbors and I were all created in the image of God as the fear melted away and I began to love my students and experience my students loving me through kind words and acts of kindness.   

Let's call it like it is.  Jesus told us to do it.   "Love your neighbor as yourself."  As with his parable of the Good Samaritan, we do not actually get to choose our neighbors.  This is difficult for us in a world of neighborhood associations and gated communities.  Who is my neighbor?  That is the questions we continue to ask, trying to stall and get some leverage or control.  But, like a shepherd he wants to lead us, away from what is less than God's best intentions for us and into experiencing the decadent love of God for us and through us.