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These are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life. We are in our third week of a series focused on our neighbors. Bernie Dake is being joined by Major Sandra Pawar as they discuss practical ways we as Christians can be more engaged with our literal neighbors in our communities. After we hear from Bernie and Sandra, we'll hear from Salvation Army officers David and Brittany Donegan.
They shared the story of how when they arrived at their new church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, they saw a tremendous housing crisis and did all they could to meet the needs of their neighbors. Again, all of the resources mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org. Welcome back to Words of Life. Again, I'm excited to have Major Sandra Pawar back. Welcome back.
Thank you. I hope our listeners are encouraged by the idea of being a good neighbor. And some of the things that you've shared with us based on some reading that you're doing. But you know, Everybody's kind of busy from time to time, and it's hard to be a good neighbor. Like one barrier a lot of us may have is our schedule.
So like on a scale of one to ten, how hective is your life? Yeah, very very hectic. Yeah. Your husband even teased you about recently agreeing to serve on a committee in your neighborhood because you have enough on your plate. Yes.
We live a very busy life. Yeah. And I would imagine our listeners are feeling the same way.
Some of them may be sitting in traffic right now as they're listening to this. What do you think is contributing to that for you? It's just A multitude of things, you know, that We have work, the girls have school, they have play dates. I'm studying f Full time too. I keep joining committees that I shouldn't.
And I'm away a lot. Yeah, so I think when you're busy like that, it can be easy to just lock yourself in your house for the little time that you are home. other than venture out and Hang out with your neighbors. Right. The scripture that really encouraged this portion of your study is taken from Luke.
Could you read that to us? This is Luke 10. Verses thirty-eight to forty-two. It says, As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lloyd, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
Mm. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're going to take a quick ad break, and we'll be right back. Hey friends, it's Arlene, and I'd love for you to join me for a special conversation on Happy Home. I'm talking with mom of four, Christy Graham, about how working with Samaritan's Purse has transformed her faith and the way she parents.
You'll hear about life-changing heart surgeries for kids, and also about a special place in Kenya where forgotten women are forgotten no more. This episode will drop April 27th. Be sure to listen. I'm not a parent. I don't have the same pressures of school dates and play dates and that kind of thing.
But just as an employee of a huge organization and a friend and a churchgoer and a husband and the Life is just busy. I think that's just the nature of busy. And now Everything demands our attention. These devices that we carry that have all the information and things. How does this Scripture speak to you?
Yes, I like this scripture, but I'm also challenged by this scripture a lot 'cause it makes us actually think about the things that we're doing and what priorities we are putting first in our life. And whether we should be busy with all those things, or if there's things that we can lay down. And then I also think that it says to me. That God is in the midst of all that we're doing. Um If we have him as our savior, if he is Lord of our life, then.
all of our life is worship to him, right? And so even if we're taking out trash and we just engage with our neighbor then, we are able to do that. Or if we are already Have something going on at a house, and we've invited people, we can invite our neighbors as well. Or where, for me, if I'm like studying and but my girls are watching TV, then I can invite the little girls next door to come over and watch TV with my girls while I'm studying in the same room.
So you can just make a space for people where. You think there wasn't any space. And I think that that's part of just looking at your life and what you're doing, what you're making yourself busy with. Are your priorities in the right order? Or is there space in those places for you to still engage with people?
Because sometimes we just use our busyness as an excuse. And so I feel like this scripture kind of makes us take a step back and be like, are we really that busy? Or am I making an excuse to avoid? talking to people or to avoid engaging with people. Man.
There's so many things we could do better. Yeah, um, I have a lot of ways that I need to improve for sure.
Well, and I I like the idea of you know, when you're you said when you're taking out your trash, maybe just wave to a neighbor, say hi, you know, actually engage at some level.
Sometimes we drive right past them. I have a neighbor that walks every morning, and as I'm pulling out, he's so faithful to wave and make sure that I know that he's there or something. And I don't even know his name. Which is crazy. We can do better.
That's the challenge to all of us. And, you know, from a Christian worldview, we really should do better so that people. Not only see Jesus in us, but if given the opportunity, people maybe hear. what he's doing in our lives. Yeah, like with our neighbors, Ashish, my husband and I have been away a lot.
At separate times, so one of us is home and the other one is not, and um, our neighbor notices which car is in the driveway. And you know, who often say, Oh, I haven't seen you for a few weeks, you know, and it's an opportunity to be like, Hey, yeah, I've been doing this, you know, and I just get to talk about my ministry, or she gets to talk about what he's been doing. And so, it's very natural, it's very organic. Um, it's not sitting down and having this huge like Bible study with them. It's it's literally just living life and then sharing stories and allowing the Lord to work through those stories.
But me and my husband are definitely not perfect. Like, there are times when I drive in and I'm like, Oh, I don't, I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Right on the couch, yeah, yeah. Um, but I know that the Lord works on me and challenges me and convicts me. in those spaces.
We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. Hey friends, it's Arlene, and I'd love for you to join me for a special conversation on Happy Home. I'm talking with mom of four, Christy Graham, about how working with Samaritan's purse has transformed her faith and the way she parents. You'll hear about life-changing heart surgeries for kids, and also about a special place in Kenya where forgotten women are forgotten no more.
This episode will drop April 27th. Be sure to listen. When we first arrived, they were kind of still stuck in that COVID area. Our soup kitchen was still serving meals at the back door. The dining room wasn't open yet.
Social services was meeting via telephone. Uh not a lot of people coming in. handing food boxes out from the back door. It was really, really kind of like we took a step back from our previous appointment where we were really interactive. A lot of the people in the community Family store had closed during COVID.
So a lot of the people here in the community Really knew of the Army, but in like most communities, they knew of the Army as a family store. Uh they didn't know that we were a all of what we did.
So, one of the things that we did, and we learned it in training, was you kind of do an exegesis of the community, right? What is this community you're going into?
So what we found out is there's a lot of poverty here. Around 80% of the housing here in this community is rental housing.
So that means only 20% of the people here own their own home. There's not a lot of industry. There's not a lot of jobs. And those that are are low paying jobs.
So you kind of understand that you're coming into a community that is already poverty stricken.
So, you know, that there's going to be a lot of needs, a lot of needs that need to be met. And so But being right outside of a military community. This community, we know that this area is starting to grow. things are starting to come and the economy is starting to come back. After being in a post-COVID area.
So Uh, what that meant was that the housing that is here that is rental housing. is starting to go up. And then those low-paying jobs aren't able to sustain. the increased amount of uh rent payments You used to get, could get a three-bedroom, a house, three-bedroom, one-bath for around $600 a month. The same three bedroom Too bad's house is now running around fifteen hundred a month.
It's kind of doubled since we've been here. People can't afford it. And I think it's across the mission. One of the biggest things that we hear is people having to make decisions, and so. Um would the with housing costs go up?
So does groceries and everything else. And so People were having to decide: do we pay rent or do we buy groceries? Do we feed our kids? You know, so. Those are just everyday situations that we take for granted.
They were having to make those real life decisions. The kids are the ones that suffer because, at the end of the day, they don't know what the family is actually going through. And so you see that, and you take, you know, you're taking them to camp, and it gives them that family, that relief, because for one week, Yeah. That family doesn't have to worry about where those children's meals are going to come from. You know, they get out of that situation for a week.
But then they come right back and talking with the families, they're just like, we don't know what to do. It's either feed the kids or Pay the bills. And, you know, of course, we know that the decision is going to be made to feed the kid. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
So, one of the things that we all go through as training is we're given a staff. And we're told to go out and to be shepherds. Our flock may not look like what we think. Our flock may be the people that are coming. and asking for assistance.
Those are the people God's called us. to to serve. And each person that my wife and I help. We send a service, we send them a letter. And we tell them, thank you.
because of their need allowed us to live out our calling. Because had they not had a need, we wouldn't be able. we wouldn't have been able to live out what God called us to do.
So where they think we're helping them. They're actually helping us follow in what God has called us as Salvation Army officers, as pastors to do. I would say the exact same thing. Um And I'm reminded every time we help a family out, like the 58 families that we helped out. Yes, they got a fresh start.
But, um, the ones with children, and even without children, when you hand them that key to their home, I want people to just realize that you're not just giving them a key to a house. that they're going to just say, oh, this is a house. They're gonna take that key and they're gonna make that key into a home that they've prayed for. And being in this community, it's reminded me every day of God's grace. Because of the 58 families that came to us that needed that help, we were able to help them.
I have, again, pastoral heart. My heart's always, if you give forward, it's going to always give forward back to other people.
So we're hoping that the love and grace that the Salvation Army here in Hopkinsville, Kentucky has shown them, that they would pay it forward. to someone that they see in need as well that you know they're able to help. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.
You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life.
We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeaudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
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