NEIGHBORS LOVING NEIGHBORS...
One of the first people to show up at what would become Love City back in early 2015 was a young man that Shawn had met while volunteering at a men’s group on Thursday mornings. Matt had just graduated with a bachelor’s degree and was taking some time to pause and figure out what was next in his life. He was interning with the men’s group and became friends with Shawn through those Thursday mornings. Matt was one of the first people to come down and help demo what would become our house on Alford Ave. He would regularly come down to the neighborhood, hanging out and helping with various projects, as well as when we would just gather as a community to just pray or share a meal. He witnessed the first block party, participated in many an open gym day, came down to take part in community events and helped in many renovation projects. He came down and hung out with us for about a year, before deciding to go to school to become an optometrist. He left Louisville for Memphis and optometry school a few years ago. While he was in school, he met Anna, she was originally also studying to be an optometrist but changed to become a nurse. About a month ago they got married in Memphis, and Shawn and I drove down for the ceremony.
The wedding was beautiful, it was held at a venue in a farm like setting outside of Memphis. The most beautiful part was how Matt and Anna were clearly anointed to be together. It was a beautiful picture of what it means to be joined together by God, surrounded by community. We were able to say congratulations and love on the couple at the reception before heading back to Louisville the next day. On the ride back we were chatting about how great it was to see community continuing in other places and how Matt had been a part of Love City from the beginning. As we were discussing community and how great it is to see people coming together in more than just our neighborhood, the truck lurched and then Shawn said very calmly, “well, we are out of gas.”
I thought he was kidding, as he started to coast the truck to the side of the interstate. We had made it to Nashville and were coming to a stop right where I40 and I65 meet. As the truck came to a stop, we looked around to see what our options were. There was a 8 foot stone retaining wall to the right, which we couldn’t climb. On the other side of the retaining wall, google maps was telling us there was a church and a residential neighborhood, but we were at least a mile from the nearest gas station. We tried calling highway patrol, but it was a Sunday, and couldn’t get through to their emergency services.
Then Shawn said, “try calling an Uber, see if they will come pick us up.”
“It’s worth a shot,” I said, as I pulled up the app. I requested an uber to take us to the nearest gas station. As I watched the little car icon on the app get closer to our location, I realized the app was sending the Uber to the church on the other side of the retaining wall from where we had come to a stop on the side of the interstate. I tried calling the uber driver to explain our situation.
The driver’s name was Ali, he answered the phone and we tried to explain the situation. In his broken English he just said OK, yes, and then the connection was dropped. I continued to watch the car icon on the app and saw that the driver was looking for a way to get on the interstate. He crossed an overpass behind where we were pulled over and I could see his jeep pulling around to get on the interstate to come get us.
As we got in the Jeep to go to the gas the radio station was playing KLOVE. Our driver was from Ethiopia. We were able to communicate what had happened and Shawn said, “Jesus”, and pointed to the radio, “I love Jesus too.” Ali responded and said, yes, same God. “That’s right,” Shawn said, we do all have the same God,”
Ali took us to the gas station at the next exit a mile and a half down the road. We worked out an arrangement with him to take us back to our truck. Shawn went in and bought a gallon of water and picked up a paper cone from the snack bar to use as a funnel.
Outside he emptied the water from the gallon jug and noticed a homeless man standing to the side of the station with all his belongings in a grocery cart. Shawn struck up a conversation with him. The man said, “you make sure you take care of her” and he pointed to me. “I just lost my wife a couple of months ago and it’s been the hardest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Shawn assured him he did take care of me, as the man started to collect his belongings and move down the street.
Shawn filled the gallon water jug with gas, and we hopped back in Ali’s Jeep to go back to our truck on the side of the interstate.
As we were turning on to the ramp to get back on the interstate, we passed a man in a Dodge Neon pulled over to the side of the road with his hood up, clearly waiting for help and not sure what to do. Shawn and I watched him as we passed, and Shawn thought, we should stop and help him too. We kept going, got to our truck, Ali dropped us off, and headed down the road. We took the paper funnel, a piece of wire we found in the truck and the gallon of gas and poured it in the gas tank of the truck. Shawn cranked the engine and it started right up. We pulled back on to the interstate and went back to the gas station we had just been to. We filled up the truck and headed back down the road, looking for the guy with the Dodge Neon pulled over with his hood up.
As we rounded the corner we saw the Neon, but this time a Tesla had pulled in front of him. The Tesla driver was out talking with the Neon driver and was on the phone, clearly calling to get him some help. Satisfied that community was happening and people were taking care of each other, we hopped back on the interstate and headed home to Louisville.
Our little adventure in Nashville reminded us of the universal the need for community. We had gone to Memphis to witness the wedding of a friend that had helped start the community at Love City and witnessed on the way back home community coming together in Nashville to love one another. It was encouraging to see that neighbors loving neighbors is happening everywhere.
PARTNER WITH US
At Love City we believe in time, talent and treasure.
Mighty Oak Academy Amazon Wish List
We've started the new semester and our supplies of snacks and breakfast items are running low. You can find some on our Amazon wish list, but if you make a grocery run or Sam's club/Costco run and can pick up an extra box of any of the following we would appreciate it!
Granola bars
Yogurt cups or GoGurt
cereal
Veggie Straws
Goldfish/CheezIts
If you would like to partner with the school, you can visit our Amazon wish list and purchase items to ship directly to the school. Visit this link to view the list: https://a.co/77dqBIT
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.