Who is your neighbor?

It’s late July in Savannah, Georgia when I’m writing this. That’s a brief way of saying it’s hot outside – Africa hot. We actually asked one of our students from Sudan and we found that it was actually cooler there than it was here. I am native to the north east of the US and, even though I have lived in Savannah for well over a decade, I have a hard time with the heat. So when the challenge asked me to walk outside I was not overly enthusiastic. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy meeting people and getting to know them, however, walking in 115-degree heat with 90% relative humidity is a sacrifice for me. I set out from our office for a quick walk around our block and not the best attitude. Prayer was not my problem, my heart was. “God, please don’t let me die of the heat.” A funny thing happened; God didn’t wait for me to get my stuff straight. Half way to the coffee shop (What? You want me to walk the whole time?), I ran into Joe and Randy. Joe and Randy are friends and they are homeless. I greeted them and we talked for a bit about how hot it was. I asked them if they had anything to drink and when they said no, I asked them to wait a few minutes and I would bring them some water. We wound up talking for an hour. They told me about their lives and I got to tell them about myself and what I was doing. We wound up praying for each other. It was perfect, and hot.