My Neighbor



So to continue on in my previous story. About 2 weeks after we visited our ayi's home, she came in on Monday, visibly stressed. But after many attempts, I still was unable to understand the problem except that it related in some way to her home. The next day my Chinese teacher came over and we discovered the reason. Her humble abode was about to be ripped down to build a high rise and she had 1 week to find a new place to live. The additional bad news was that her husband had been working a month long construction job in a different city, the foreman for the job, took the money from the company and left without paying any of the workers. So, not only was she almost out of a home, she was without the money or resources to find a new one. So, every morning she would spend hours scouring the area for anything she could afford. And with housing prices skyrocketing in this area, she was having a bit of trouble finding even village level housing.



This was such a frustrating situation, we of course offered to front her the money but couldn't actually help her find an apartment. With my absolutely elementary Chinese level I'm not even sure I could find us an apartment if I really needed to, and I definitely have no idea how to hunt for village style dwellings. So with about 4 days left for her to find a new place and seemingly nothing in sight, we began to contemplate letting her move in with us for a short time until she could find something workable. This presented it's own set of problems, since every weekend we hold a foreigners fellowship and use absolutely every last room of our home. Also we began to debate about how much money we could afford to give her. Our finances don't exactly have a ton of wiggle room.



So, we took the opportunity to pray with her about it, and let her know we would try to help however we could. And then we began to really pray about what He would want us to do. I was really really upset for her, and struggling hard with what our part in this should be. As I went to the grocery store one afternoon, having a dialogue with God as I walked, IT suddenly hit me!!!! Here I was, wondering and struggling in my heart with what we should do, and He reminded me, that the answer was really pretty simple. I always think it's amazing that everything we need for living we can find from the principals in the Bible. Mark 12:28-31, "And one of the scribes came up....and asked him, "which commandement is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is,...And you shall 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: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Wow! Did that ever hit me between the eyes? Here I am wondering what I should do, "You shall love your neighbor AS YOURSELF" Not much wiggle room there. We have always managed by the grace of God to have a roof over our heads, and this precious woman, although she labors hard every day, is struggling to afford the same. If she's not my neighbor than who is? I sure love myself enough to put a roof over my head. We may not have much by some standards, but compared to her we are rich. We can certainly do without a few comforts to make sure she has enough to get by. I was reminded of the two other stories, one in Matthew of the rich young ruler, and the one in Luke of the good samaritan, and was again convicted by the simplicity of what He expects from me.



So, she did manage to find something on the last day of the week, although it was almost double the cost of her current poverty level abode. But, I am happy to report it is also much nicer. It is still far below what we would consider a suitable place to live, but for her it is very comfortable. It made me so happy to go visit it with her. We have cheerfully upped her salary to meet the demand, and although that will make our budget just a little less comfortable, it is in reality a very little. How can I possibly hope that this woman will see His love if I am not living it out to her 100%. Love always costs you something. It certainly cost "Him" something.

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