Love Thy Neighbor
On January 19th, 2015 my dad passed away. In my grief, I also felt relieved he was with my mom in Heaven and that he was no longer suffering. On January 19th, 2026, my dad’s good friend, and my childhood neighbor passed away. Exactly 11 years apart, and about twenty years after our families had relocated, I like to imagine God has allowed them to be neighbors again.
My parents moved across the street from the Olsens in 1974, a year after the Olsens had moved in. In the subsequent thirty years, our families would share many holidays, barbeques, and just hanging out and helping each other. The Olsens followed God’s command in both Leviticus 19:18 and Mark 12:31 to “love thy neighbor” and it changed everything for my family.
The Olsens were already believers – they had acknowledged God’s sacrifice for them at young ages and had grown their faith through their lives. My parents were minimally “churched”; my mother had been raised Catholic and my dad had endured a childhood of instability with visits to different churches over the years. Neither were saved; neither were secured of their spots in heaven. Neither were living a life rooted in the promises of God.
However, within days of their move in September of 1974, with my mother heavily pregnant with my older sister, the Olsens became a steady source of love and witness of God’s grace and love.
In the Old Testament verse in Leviticus, the Lord spoke to Moses and He instructed the people to love their neighbors. Again, in the New Testament, Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment. In verses 30-31, He says, “30 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.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (ESV) There is no other commandment greater than these.” The Olsens, because they loved God, they befriended my parents, their neighbors. The impact, over the last 50 years, of their willingness to answer God’s call is incredible.
My mother came to Christ.
My father came to Christ.
Because my parents were growing their faith at church, my sister and I heard the Gospel. We were both saved.
At the church we went to together, I met my best friend and sister in Christ, Jennifer Dugger (the founder of Built Up!!) and that relationship has deepened our faith in Christ over forty-five years.
My maternal grandmother came to faith in the last hours of her life with the witness of my mother. It gave my mother such comfort to know her mom would be in Heaven and united with Christ.
My brother-in-law came to Christ through the witness and prayers of my mother and sister.
My youngest nephew has recently come to Christ and encouraged his father to get baptised with him. My sister rededicated her life at the same service.
My parents’ marriage in Christ helped me desire the same and wait until I was 40 to find my husband, a man who grew up in the church and had accepted Jesus as his Savior.
These are all the direct result of obedience to loving neighbors. Both families relocated in the early 2000s and both families continued to live their faith and impact the lives of others. On the day my dad’s friend, brother in Christ, and neighbor passed away, my husband said my dad likely called out to him and said, “Hey Fred, we are having a barbeque for you. Come on home.”
Love others. It’s not complicated – it can be prayer, saying hello, serving one another with your gifts, invitations to church, and it is incredible how God will honor that witness and how God’s kingdom will grow. The Olsens were sure God had placed them in their home; my parents believed the same of our family home. God loved my parents and knew the hearts of the Olsens; He knew they would take the call and love their neighbors. What a legacy and celebration of God’s faithfulness.
