1 John 4:7-21 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved , Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
This past weekend, Nellie and I fought with a bad allergies or the onset of what wanted to be a cold. On Friday night we felt so bad we did not take our dog, Wesley, on a walk. He loves walks and enjoys our neighborhood. On Saturday I said, "Let's take the boy out for a walk." We got ready and we took out. We have the same, simple route, down two blocks, turn left, and on to the end of that street, left again for two blocks and down the front of our street. Where our street ends is a busy street, a high school is on that street and it is four lanes. Our street and others from our neighborhood continue but you have to turn left and then immediately right to continue on it. As we were nearing our home on our street I saw an elderly lady mouthing as if she were calling to us, and we said hello, but she kept talking. I handed the leash to Nellie and crossed the street. In Spanish she said she didn't know where she was, nor where she lived. I believed her to be the elderly lady that lives across the street from us, so I asked her to stay and i would run and get her family. I began running, and Wesley started pulling Nellie to run, so she's running and this dear lady is walking very briskly behind us all. I rang the doorbell on our neighbor's home and there was no answer. The lady and I tried talking some more and she kept pointing towards the other main street near our home and so I asked if I could walk with her to her house. I also asked Nellie to bring me my phone so that I could call the police. I called 911 and reported a disoriented woman and gave our location. As we started to cross our side street, a man on a bicycle called out to her by her name, "Sylvia! Where are you going? That's not the way to our house!" Sylvia had been saying she lived with Roel and that she had twins. The man said, "She doesn't know where she is and if you listen to her she'll ask you to take her to Kingsville." Another neighbor in a truck drove slowly by and asked the man on the bike if everything was alright, and he said yes, that Sylvia had "escaped by the back gate." Long story short, they managed to convince her to get in the truck and drive home in that way. I canceled the 911 call where they told me her family had also reported her missing.
It had to have been God nudging me to take this walk. I also mentioned at the start of our walk that I did not have my phone and I usually feel safer carrying it in case we need to call for help or take a call from someone. But we usually use our time on this walk to pray and to listen to God, and in this case we demonstrated love to a neighbor in distress. For the rest of the evening and even as we were falling asleep we discussed how sad it was to find this lady in this way, mentioning she might have crossed the big street alone and trying to cross again to where we were. Love is listening to God, and following God's prompts to do for others in love, those acts of kindness that may help save a life.
PRAYER: Loving God, abide in me, as I prayed yesterday, but let me live in love, the kind of love that goes beyond just talking about it, but actually doing it and living it to bless You and Yours. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
