People In Your Neighborhood


Perhaps you remember the Sesame Street song; 
"Oh, the postman is a person in your neighborhood."
The song went on to name the people you meet on the street each day. After 9/11 then Attorney General John Ashcroft announced if we saw anyone who looked unusual or strange to report them. Those of us in NY didn't know what to make of that. I had seen a man walking down the street clothed in black garbage bags. Should I report him? I didn't. He seemed harmless, and it's not like it was the first time I had seen that.

I thought about the old Sesame Street song today and reflected on who I meet on the street each day. Over the past couple days I recall;
A man with purple hair hand stitching a glove at the airport.
Countless women wearing hijabs.
A man sleeping on the sidewalk outside of C-Town supermarket.
A stock clerk who spoke no English, but was so pleased with himself when he figured out I wanted a brownie pan and located it for me.
A man dressed as a woman.
A man shouting obscenities in the air seemingly at no one. Mr Fox (my dog) seemed to find this puzzling.
People rushing to work, kids headed to school, and my list can keep going, but that's plenty for now. I live in a populated area so I encounter a lot of people. Most of us encounter some people each day no matter where we live.

Jesus loves them. Jesus gave his life for them. Jesus wants to spend eternity with them.

"For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. God didn't send his son to the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved." John 3:16-17

Men in trash bags, women in business suits, students, soldiers, officers, and more are all loved by God. The people we meet on the street each day need a Savior, but sadly sometimes I'm blind to them. Too busy doing my own thing to notice them as we meet.

That needs to change. I need to be saltier. I need to shine brighter. How about you? Let's pray for God to help us to see people as he sees them. Then let's help show them the way to Jesus. 

Following the Son,

James A Williams

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