This is Eric Pinckney. He is my neighbor. We met a few months ago when it actually snowed so much in Atlanta that our kids made a snowman – a big one. Tonight we had dinner with his beautiful family (Claristine, EJ, Joshua) and really enjoyed our time together. We watched Davidson lose to Kansas, ate dinner, talked politics, and passed a whiffle ball with my 18 month old son, Ezekiel.
His wife took this photo right before we left and it occurred to me that it is a lot easier to love a neighbor that you know. While I don’t wanna debate what Jesus meant when he admonished us to love our neighbor, I know that in our impersonal, doors-and-windows-locked, park-in-your-garage society it is way too easy to use the excuse of not knowing your neighbor for why you don’t love them.
I am glad I know Eric and the Pinckney crew and look forward to a growing relationship with them. How could you get to know (and love) your neighbors? If it’s as important as Jesus says it is, I think you should give it a try!