In Mark 12:28-31 a conversation between one of the teachers of the law and Jesus took place.

 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.” Mt 22:36-39 (NIV)

We have a new addition to our family we never expected. Why would we? Living in a small town in the Midwest, sheltered and hidden. We love Jesus, we consider our church family and we live life with people who look like, and much of the time, believe what we do. Stopping and looking back makes me realize that this sheltered living was a recipe for disaster. Oh, not in the sense of the tragic natural disasters others have experienced or in the violent tragedies filling our news, but a disaster of a faith I know to be true. Love your neighbor as yourself. No exceptions. That means the neighbor that doesn't look like me, think like me or share the faith I am growing in. 

There was a time I literally knew no one in the LGBTQ+ community. No joke.  And then I did. My life as I knew it and how I thought it would be was upended. Discovering our son was gay changed everything. Me, most of all, in many ways. I would say the change has been for the good and most importantly, for God's glory. I would have missed learning to love when it hurt. I would have missed engaging in hard conversations that have made me uneasy and uncomfortable. I would have never met 100's of remarkable people who would have never been on my radar screen of life.

I have had the unexpected life of loving the neighbor who was a stranger and a "foreigner". My prayer is that you would be brave enough to have a heart wide open. One that can and will love the neighbor in your world, be it urban or rural, when it is hard and uncomfortable. I pray that you would choose to love like Jesus because it is as simple as loving your neighbor as yourself. Amen.