For the last few months, I have been writing about neighbors because this is not just a word, it is basic theology. From that point of view, the definition becomes more complex.

The easy way is, 'I can do that. No problem. I look at the people next door or across the street and can honestly say that they're not bad at all. Now, they are kinda strange and do odd things, but if I wanted a neighbor, there are some that would be a whole lot worse and I want to treat them with respect.'

I helped my neighbor when he got locked out of his house, another when a big tree limb took out his front porch and old Bill when he needed to borrow some tools.

My pastor suggested that even those needy folks across the pond should be looked at as neighbors and so I send money to the charity that takes care of the foreigners. I get tired of that.

Why don't they take care of themselves? Why is it that my government happens to be the great first aid kit of the world?

Well, folks, there is a biblical precedent that gives us pause to ponder. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.' Hold on there!' Maybe you don't know this, but I hate myself! I drink too much, am overweight, poor in math, underpaid and terribly paranoid, That's why I dislike my neighbor. Who could love such a loser?'

The little church in the wildwood that I was made to attend when I was a kid taught me this, 'You are a worthless sinner. Why God would send His Son to die for the likes of you is beyond me. There is no help in you. Oh, wretched sinner that you are.'

Love my neighbor as myself? Get real.

I am like the prodigal son who returns from his search for excitement and total freedom from any obligations as a broken man deserving nothing. He hopes to beg for forgiveness and is willing to be nothing more than a hired servant or slave if his father will just have him as he is, a worthless failure who has nothing to give and is like a homeless beggar.

His father would not give him a chance to plead, beg or grovel in the dirt. His father said everything needed to be said and done, 'Let us have a feast for my son was dead but is now alive, well and home!' This brings us back to the beginning. I can love myself because I know that I am loved. Now, I can love someone else. I can be the neighbor I was created to be!

We must be someone very special to have been given such love. How can we refuse to accept this gift? Now we can really love our neighbors as ourselves!

Thanks, God!