Andrew Isaacs
This is a blog about Jesus, family, friends, music, and design.
The blog title is an anagram of my name.
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Loving Your Neighbor
About a year ago, I interrupted my neighbor (across the street) who was in a LOUD shouting match with his wife in their front yard. I asked for him to please not use profanity since my kids were hearing every word. He un-politely told me to mind my own business. The shouting eventually turned physical: pushing and threatening, and then even some hitting.
Eventually I called the police and reported that the dude was hitting his wife. (by the way, the dude has sleeved tattoos on both arms and a huge goatee; and he looks really mean... seriously)
After the police came and left, I went out to my driveway to wash my truck. The dude walked down to the sidewalk on his side of the street, sat down, and proceeded to stare at me the whole time I was washing my truck. I decided to just ignore him. He yelled stuff across the street like, "I wish people would mind their own &$#@ing business," and other such things. He obviously knew that I had called the cops, and he was making it clear that he was not happy about it. We spent the next couple of days really nervous that the guy was going to do something like vandalize our house or one of our vehicles. I was personally on edge every single time walked out my front door. It was really irritating.
Since then (for the last year), there has been unspoken tension. We have never said a word to each other. He has often made rude gestures across the street at me as I pull in or out of my driveway. The police have shown up at their house numerous times for whatever reason, and every time I've been nervous that he'll think we called the cops again. It's made me really resent the guy. I've prayed numerous times that God would just kick these people out of our neighborhood. We haven't enjoyed spending time in our front yard, and I tend to pull our front curtains closed so I don't constantly look across the street to see what's going on over there.
Today, I was doing yard work in the front of the house and the dude was standing in his driveway watching me. I gathered up some courage and gave him a friendly little nod; I was shocked when he actually nodded back. I turned off the leaf blower and said across the street, "Your dad is much better at this than I am." (the dude's old dad is ALWAYS outside blowing leaves around the neighborhood.) He laughed and said, "I agree." The dude had just talked to me. I walked to my side yard to grab my yard clipping bin, and when I walked back to the front, dude was walking across the street toward me.
I honestly didn't know if he was going to stab me or just say hello.
As he approached, this is what he said, "I want to formally apologize to you; and we've never officially met. I'm Charles." He reached out his hand and I shook it. He looked me in the eye and continued, "I guess I've been blaming you for stuff, and I want to apologize. I want us to be neighbors, not foes." Those were his actual words. I was dumbfounded. I told him that I really appreciated his apology and that I didn't want there to be any tension either.
We then proceeded to chat about how both of our wives are pregnant and about how the weather is really nice today.
And a year of tension melted away.
I would never have imagined that this dude, I mean, Charles, would have come across the street to shake my hand and apologize. My prayer now is not that God would kick them out of the neighborhood, but that He would give us opportunities to bless our neighbors.
Shock and Awe
We flushed two goldfish down the toilet so they could "go live in the ocean."
When I asked Livi if the other fish would miss their friends, she said, "Dad, they're just fish."
(We were really just making more room in the fish tank. It was getting very crowded.)
We're finally healthy!
After weeks of being sick and stuck at home, we all woke up this morning feeling good! Mondays are my day off, so we all sat down for a nice breakfast of chocolate croissants, yogurt, and coffee.
Then we decided to get dressed and go to the park. The kids ran into the playground as if it had been years since they'd been set free! We played for a while, then went to the mall to walk around and eat lunch.
Now we're home for naps. Thank you Lord for restoring us!
the sickies
Jojo and I have been quarantined. Brini is taking care of us, and the other kids are staying with Grandpa and Grandma.
via Pixelpipe
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