Our Miracle on 34th Street

The first piece of advice we received when moving into our neighborhood was this: "Don't go in waiving a banner. Just be a neighbor for awhile." So that is what we have basically done for the past six months. While we have been active in the community and built relationship with certain families and kids, we have been pretty quiet on our block. We hosted one outdoor movie night which got rained out. We sat outside and said hello to people as they passed our house. We took care of our yard. We felt the initial strain of moving into a neighborhood were some were confused of our presence. We were asked not to volunteer at a local neighborhood center because they felt our ministry presented some type of conflict of interest with theirs. Our sometimes drunk neighbor would occasionally yell profanities at us as we got out of the car. We tried to remain consistent. There were many days when I wanted to say, "what the heck have we done wrong?"

This past week was our own personal "Miracle on 34th Street." All of the praying and patience paid off when God allowed us to see the fruit of investing in our neighborhood. We decided to throw a neighborhood Christmas party. We had no idea who would show up, but we put up a sign in our front yard the week before. We passed out flyers. We told everyone we saw walking down our surrounding streets. The plan? To grill some hot dogs. blow up the outdoor movie screen, make smores and just roll with it.

The morning of our party, we were outside getting ready when our profanity yelling neighbor was walking down the street with his daily purchase of alcohol. I whispered to Glenn, "I really want to invite him but afraid of how he'll respond." (Because so far its only been cussing us out). We said "hello" and Glenn proceeded to invite him.  The man stopped and said, "How are you today? Merry Christmas. Thank you, but I think I'll keep my face on my porch tonight."  As he walked away, with a grateful heart, I was speechless at what had just transpired. That same morning, another neighbor whom Glenn had previously met came over and asked Glenn to show him how to set a mouse trap. Glenn was sitting on the side of our new fire pit and extended an open invitation to hang out by the fire. The man looked up at Glenn in complete shock and said, "You mean you want to hang out with me, neighbor?" It is a moment that is forever freeze framed in my mind. The realization that relationship is desired was shocking to this man.

That night, no less than 60 people came to our block party. There was a Christmas movie, Christmas karaoke, hot dogs, a fire and smores (some made smores for the very first time.) There were lots of kids and a handful of adults. There was laughter and smiles. 

The owner of a neighborhood business even came by.

Our sweet neighbor across the street who was born in her house in the 40's said, "This is wonderful. This is what our neighborhood used to be like when I was a child." A few days later, a man I've never seen stopped us outside and said, "Thank you for what you did for the kids in our neighborhood. That was really nice."

We announced at our party that in January we would be starting a weekly youth meeting in our home on Sunday afternoons (HELP NEEDED)  and that Glenn would be starting a men's bible study. Last night while we were gathered around the fire with some friends, a man who lives down the street came over to make sure he wasn't missing the bible study. He had already started inviting men in the neighborhood.  Now every time we drive down the street or people pass by, they say hello. We are neighbors. We have been accepted by many in this community. This is our Christmas miracle. This is where we can really start watering the seeds that have been planted. We are so thankful for how God has worked in the hearts of our neighbors. We are thankful for the work He has done in our hearts in preparation. We feel like we've grown so much as well.

ALL Glory and Honor to God :)