...But we like them

Last week we moved out of our old city and we are now settling into our new home. With all of the news coverage here about the three martyrs in Malatya, many people in our old neighborhood had been treating us differently. Some people stopped greeting us on the street, some stopped answering their phones when we called, some made excuses why they couldn't see us. Our neighbors also stopped coming by and some of them even began looking at us with fear and contempt. I suppose some of them were afraid that having Christians close by might mean that something terrible might happen in their own building, others were afraid of being associated openly with Christians. They became more worried about what the other neighbors would think of them. And still others became convinced that we were part of a grand Christian conspiracy to undermine Turkey somehow...

During this time, I was walking with my three year-old daughter down the apartment building stairs one afternoon. A middle-aged, conservative Muslim woman was just opening her door to step out of her apartment when she saw us coming. She quickly ducked back into her aparment and shut the door. My daughter saw the abrupt gesture and after a moment of silence she said,
"These neighbors don't like us, do they, Daddy? ...But we like them."

She's three. And my little girl gets it. The way that Jesus has called us to live. The reason we're here. Sometimes these neighbors don't like us. But we like them, for Jesus' sake.