Villagio

That's the name of my neighborhood. Villagio. I love it here. The kids all play and ride bikes and scooters and while there is occasionally drama with the older kids ("Mom, did you know Colton doesn't go to high school anymore because he was caught smoking marijuana?" "Really? Do you know what marijuana is?" "Umm...drug things?") mostly the kids are respectful and have fun together. I love when they are all at our house. Playing handball on the back wall, skating on the ramp Jesse built, hanging out on the grass, playing hide-and-seek, playing XBox. Whatever. I have grown to really love these kids. And they are here a lot.

Unfortunately, so many of the kids have divorced parents, step-families, visitation to work out for the holidays, day care until 5pm everyday, etc. It's sad. The kids of divorce show off their new iTouch and $300 cameras bought by guilty parents who don't spend enough time with them and know that expensive gifts make kids happy. For awhile. And now that school has started back up, the kids race to our house after their working parents pick them up from after school day-care and they choose to play at my house, even though they will only see their own parent for a couple hours all day. Maybe. In this middle class neighborhood, our pink and beige houses sit neatly in a row behind our sidewalks and palm tree lined streets, trying to hide so much pain and brokenness. God sent us here and we know we aren't here by accident. All those kids and the families they represent are opportunities for us to be ambassadors of God's love and hope in his world, this neighborhood. In Villagio. There is need everywhere around us but do we even notice it? Do we look?  Families all around us are struggling financially, in their marriage, with wayward kids, with sick parents. It's easy to just smile at your neighbor, wave hello and chat about the weather. It's hard to get to know them, share their joy, know their pain.

Thursday was our missional community dinner and meeting. We have officially kicked off meeting weekly in our home and are looking for ways to be intentional in this neighborhood about sharing the love of Christ. Before dinner, all our MC kids plus neighbor kids and dads played football in the street and then came in for story time. This is a story form version of the Bible, highlighting the Gospel every week. Some neighbor kids came in to listen too. And one stayed for dinner. We hope to invite all the kids as the weeks go on. (OF COURSE with their parent's permission) and their parents, too. Neighborhood BBQ's, Easter Egg hunts, Halloween parties, etc. will hopefully be things we can plan and do to get to know our neighbors. To love them. To live life with them. And hopefully to share with them the love of the One who sent us to Villagio in the first place.

Do you view your neighbors this way? I know it’s not always easy to spend the money or the time or listen to all the NOISE kids make but I hope I never choose comfort over this community and I hope I never look away from need just because it seems overwhelming. My life in this beige house is just a vapor and I hope my legacy counts for more than just my comfort, my clean house, my smaller grocery budget. And Costco sells Ibuprofen for pretty cheap so let’s all figure out how we can invest in our neighborhoods, the kids all around us and the families chasing the American dream but living in a shallow nightmare.