Loving Our Neighbors…

Some days I feel so far away—especially when our nation is in crisis, and I so desperately want to do something, anything, to help. But even though I can’t do much from Germany, I’m inspired when I see how many Americans have responded with overwhelming love to help neighbors they don’t even know.

I’ve been meeting people from around the world here in Berlin. Not all countries are like the United States where so many people want to help others in need.

One family’s story…

When Katrina devastated New Orleans, my friend Brandi opened up her home in northern Mississippi to her parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins who lost everything in the hurricane. Thirty people and eight dogs lived with her for weeks as they tried to recover from the shock.

Brandi sent out an e-mail for help. They needed clothes to fit everyone from her two-year-old niece to her eighty-year-old grandmother.

People responded with an amazing speed, and in days, the post office called to say they had a truck full of packages to deliver—clothes and gift certificates from across the country. Many from people they didn’t even know.

My step mom rallied a group of churches and businesses and people in Central Ohio who donated an overwhelming amount of gift certificates, cash, and household goods to help them start over. My dad delivered these things to Brandi's family via U-Haul this week.

I’m grateful to be a citizen of a country where people generously and sacrificially give their time and money to help others in need—loving their neighbors as well as hurting people around the world.

God bless the U.S.A.