IT JUST APPEARED

One day last week when I stepped out my back door, I noticed this little "umbrella stand" under my patio table. I didn't know who had put it there. Actually, I had a pretty good idea.

Upon further investigation I found out that my hunch was correct. You see, Jerry is a collector of a lot of things. He said he happened to see this in his pile of scrap metal and decided that maybe it would work to hold my small umbrella. This umbrella is made to be carried to the beach and anchored in the sand....a beach umbrella, no less :)

It works! And if I want to tilt the umbrella just a bit...well, you get the picture.

Saturday, someone put 6 red, ripe tomatoes on the table on my front porch . Now this took a bit more detective work, as it could have been any one of 3 of my wonderful neighbors. Tracked it down to Nella. They are sooooo delicious.

What a neighborhood! And just think if I had my place all fenced in, complete with gate and lock, these nice folks couldn't slip onto my property and leave me such delightful surprises!

I looked up "neighborhood" in my handy pocket Webster. "A section or small region that possesses a specific quality". I think that specific quality around here is good old fashioned "neighborliness".

TFT: Once upon a time, a long time ago, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. The conversation eventually came around to the inquisitor asking Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?".



And then Jesus told him a story, a parable, if you will. We call it the Parable of The Good Samaritan. And when he was finished with the story, Jesus did what he so often did, answered a question with a question.

The "expert" got it right....for he answered his own original question to Jesus this way, "The one who shows mercy".

Jesus replied, "Go and do likewise". (Luke 10: 25-37)