These last two weeks, I’ve been thinking continuously about living in community.

My husband and I are blessed to live on 300 acres in central Texas.  It’s a beautiful ranch with cows, thousands of oak and cedar trees, fruit & pecan trees, and God’s peaceful creation.

The issue is: nature walls us in!  There’s not a person in sight, for over a mile.

Please understand–I love the ranch and relish the simple life.  It’s just that I value people more.  I L-O-V-E my bi-weekly runs with a nearby church lady, just 10 minutes away!  I jump at the chance for impromptu meetings with the girls or dinners out with my husband and friends.

Should we be surprised?  Community is vital! 

The issue is — in our ‘Commuter Culture’ — people rely heavily on personal vehicles to get from A to B.  But when you don’t live near others, you’re much less likely to interact with them regularly.  Consider this recent blog blurb written by Pastor Randy Frazee (Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, TX):

We were all designed by God for community. We all need support and to offer support to our fellow man. The farmer learned this wise principle from Proverbs 27:10,

“…better a neighbor nearby, than a brother far away.”

It is okay to own a large plot of God’s beautiful land, just don’t isolate yourself from the community you need to live. It is okay to take a break from humanity for a few weeks at a time, just don’t make it a way of life. When your “heart attack” strikes, make sure you have positioned yourself to survive it.

So convicting!

For much of my life, I’ve lived a solid 30 minutes from family and good friends.  The distance is taxing.  Every outing is an all-day affair, structuring your calendar around it.  With each added hindrance, cutting out social meetings altogether becomes much easier to do.  After all, we have to ‘get our stuff done’ more than chit-chatting with friends!

Or do we?

Community is built on proximity and can’t happen tens of miles apart.  The physical distance changes everything.  Yes, we’re in the age of Skype, free nationwide calls, and of course the ever-expanding social media.  But how social can it truly be if we haven’t seen friends for weeks because we’re so tech-tied?

In my life, this must change.

Nothing can replace seeing your girlfriend’s new ring over coffee — especially not clicking through pics on Facebook!  Hearing her tell her engagement story start-to-finish, seeing every excited facial expression, and bonding over life-changing moments like these… these moments are priceless.  Nothing will ever replace face-to-face.  We need to treat them like the treasures they are, but this involves getting off the computer, the Droid, or the iPad.

At work, reach across desks.  Shake hands in person.

After church, enjoy lunch with new friends or share a poolside barbecue together.

In your family life, unplug (!) the PC, TV, DVR, PS3 — all those acronyms — and have conversations.  Enjoy dinner together, nightly, no distractions allowed!  Do your best to sync your family’s schedules so this is a priority.  Most importantly: let each family member know why.  Tell them it’s because relationships always trump activities. 

Even better?  Enjoy activities with other people.  If you have a special hobby, recruit others to join you or devote time to teaching them about it.  You never know what could happen from there.  Organize a running club in your neighborhood.  Start a Bible study, or learn about a shared interest together!  Build a car with the mechanically-inclined gentleman down the road (if you’re single and he’s cute, hello bonus!).  Learning together equals more fun, more retention, and more discovery potential than learning alone (or through Wikipedia).

It’s not simply “nice” to live in community, it’s essential.  You’ll live longer.  You’ll experience better health.  You’ll be happier.  You’ll have support in tough times, and extra hands to help during crises.

The Word says that together, we can defeat strongholds and struggles (“Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed”).

How will the world see God on earth?  Not with their eyes, but through us: “By this they will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another”!  If they don’t see us together, how can they witness our love for each other?

And the coolest story of all–When did the largest recorded biblical conversions take place?  In the book of Acts, when Peter and the gang and their followers were in one accord, breaking bread together, enjoying daily fellowship, learning alongside each other, sharing their belongings with whoever had need among them!  CAN YOU IMAGINE?  Everyone wants to join such a crowd.

That is God’s picture of true community.  Does yours look like this–and does mine?  Which “Level of Community” are you on?:

So…

What can you and I do today to open lines of communication with our neighbors? 

What step can we take NOW to encourage true community around us?

I believe my husband and I need to move, soon, to a neighborhood–a place I can reach-out-and-touch people, invite them over, share daily stories and situations with them.  This decision has everything to do with giving people more access to our lives!  I am soo excited — thrilled even — at the prospect!  Living together is what our lives were designed for.

What have I missed all these years because I haven’t been in community?  I’ve decided I’m not waiting to find out and watch another year pass by, full of missed opportunities with people.

Let’s do this community thing.  Together.