My family doesn't appreciate yet what it meant to have Isaac and Jessica Ward as our neighbors for a year, though we're starting to. They were constantly thinking of us, bringing things over, inviting us over, inviting us to do things, etc. We tried very hard to outdo them in showing honor (Rom 12:10), and after a delightful, holy competition of hospitality, generosity, and brotherly affection, I think we lost.
Case in point: this morning, when Emmet woke up, he ran to the stairs window to make sure the moving truck was still there. It wasn't. Isaac left at 6:30 this morning. As I comforted my weeping son, he managed this sentence, "Now I and Kessedi and Karissa won't get to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Ward anymore."
I hope you see the profundity of that. Isaac and Jessica are generous with their possessions, generous with their skills, generous with their time. But more than that, they are relationally generous in a joy-filling 2John 12b sort of way. My five year old is mourning the chats that he will be missing with our 24 year old neighbors. 24 year-olds who genuinely and interestedly engage in conversation with a 5, 6, and almost-2 year old... that's a snapshot of what it has been like to know Isaac and Jessica as neighbors. Outdo one another in showing honor, indeed.
Later this morning, Emmet climbed into the clubhouse that Isaac built for him from scratch. Porch with railing, real door, fancy real windows off an old house, real shingles, real vinyl siding. And Emmet found in there a beautiful collectible car. Who knows how long that thing had been traveling around the country with Isaac, before yesterday he told me that "it needed playing with." I had a hunch about what it was, and I refused the gift. Emmet has lots of cars, and Emmet now has the coolest clubhouse in the world. But there his newest car was in his cool clubhouse. It's right up there with the toy ambulance that belonged to MJ's child who had died, and which MJ kept all those years only to give to Emmet for Christmas one year.
Yes, Isaac and Jessica are in the MJ and Betty category for us. Perhaps no one else on earth besides Heather knows what that means. It's a category of people with whom our deepest bond is passion for the Lord Jesus, being totally amazed by Him, and totally sold out to Him. And who express that bond in displays of honor, generosity, and affection that are beyond what mere earthly blood relation could foster.
So we will miss you dearly, dearly. But not forever. For the bond we share is eternal in Christ. In glory, we will be marvelously preoccupied with Him, but in His perfect wisdom, He makes Himself the most distinguishing characteristic of every believer; so that, in glory we will treasure each other as a part of treasuring Him. Well, we're not waiting until glory to begin. The point of this post is to let you know that we treasure you now as a part of treasuring Christ.
With all our love,
the Hakims.
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