Trying to connect with your neighbors is harder than connecting with the eggshell you dropped into your cake mix.
Absorbed in their digital domains, most folks have little time for old-fashioned face time. But my friend, Tim, is determined to build bridges into the lives of his unsaved neighbors. He’s stumbled onto an unusual strategy.
At his church, they serve unsold treats from a local bakery after Sunday morning services. Tim’s buddy, Russ, helps sort out those pastries, and he tries to set aside a beautiful collection of huge cookies for Tim.
With those baked goods in hand, Tim spends part of his Sunday afternoons knocking on his neighbors’ doors. And those neighbors are glad for the visit.
“There’s a happiness vibe you pick up on quickly,” observes Tim. “People seem genuinely surprised that you would think of them. But I’m convinced it’s bigger than just the enjoyment of a few cookies they didn’t have to pay for. The sense of being thought about, cared for, and visited is a rare thing.”
Rare enough that some of these neighbors invite Tim into their homes. They talk. They laugh. They share life. Tim and his wife have even had dinner with some of them. This past Sunday, Tim was out sharing cookies. And he hopes to do the same this Sunday…and the next…and the next.
Is giving an unsaved neighbor a cookie the same as sharing John 3:16? Obviously not. But conversations have to begin somewhere. And eventually, one of those conversations might well present an opportunity to share Jesus. So, why not start by sharing something nice with your neighbors?
As Tim puts it, “A cookie in the hand is a foot in the door!”
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
-Ephesians 2:10
