5. This Chick-fil-A who took “Neighboring” to a whole new level.
If anyone knows what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus, it’s the masterminds behind everyone’s favorite dining establishment, Chick-fil-A. Not only do they serve THE LORD’S CHICKEN with pleasure and a smile, but they truly live out what it means to be a good steward and love your neighbor as yourself.
When Lindsey Jones accidentally forgot her purse at a Chick-fil-A in Lubbock, Texas, on her drive home to New Mexico, she never expected the ways the restaurant would live out their second-mile service.
She contacted the store and confirmed that they did in fact have her purse, which they would overnight to her.
“With it being a Saturday delivery, and being that I carry a pretty large handbag that weighed 7 lbs, you can imagine it was NOT a cheap shipment!! When I called to give him a FedEx account number to use to pay for it, he told me not to worry about it because it was already taken care of!!!!”
When Lindsey received her bag the next morning, not only was everything there, but they had also sent free food vouchers and plush cows!
If Chick-fil-A in its entirety isn’t a reflection of what it means to love your neighbor, I don’t know WHAT is!
6. This café owner who took a chance on a neighbor in need.
When a homeless man walked into Cesia Abigail Baires’ restaurant asking for money, she refused.
Heartless, you might think, but in fact, Cesia had something better in mind. She asked the homeless man why he didn’t have a job, to which he responded that his past was preventing him from changing his future.
“Well, I have a lot of felonies and no one wants to hire me for that, so now I had to turn myself to the streets and get money the only way I know, stealing and asking for money.”
Instead of giving him money, Cesia gave him a job.
She could never have imagined that her blessing him would wind up being an even bigger blessing to her!
7. This airplane passenger whose neighbor took a nap on her chest!
Everyone knows it’s stressful enough to fly the skies as it is. Throw a dad flying solo at Christmas with an 8-month-old into the mix, and you’re looking at the kind of stress that would make someone curl up into a ball and cry.
Little man was doing well on his second flight ever, hanging out on dad’s lap. But it wasn’t long before he decided he was more interested in his neighbor sitting in the window seat than he was in cuddling with dad.
“After brief introductions and him fighting me trying to crawl over to her, she opens her arms and says ‘oh just give him to me!’” The dad wrote on Facebook.
And her offer was all it took!
“Not 60 seconds later he puts his head down on her chest and falls asleep!”
She then proceeded to tell the dad that if he wanted to take a quick nap, she would hold the child so he could catch up on some sleep.
Being seated next to each other made these three neighbors in proximity. But it was the woman’s kindness that showed love to her two neighbors.
8. This cop that showed a whole community what it means to love your neighbor.
After breaking down in the middle of a busy interstate on a hot day in Alabama, Autumn Snyder was two hours from home and literally stuck.
That is — until a superhero state trooper showed up and not only helped them through the situation but went above and beyond to love his neighbors.
Rather than simply diverting traffic from their lane as Autumn expected he’d do, the Alabama state trooper loaded Autumn and her kids in his dispatch vehicle and drove them to the nearest rest stop to get them out of the heat. Autumn’s husband stayed with their vehicle and waited for a tow truck. But once they got to the station, the police officer wasn’t finished neighboring them.
“He checked the bathroom for ‘boogiemans’ so Madeline could use the restroom. He shot illuminating helicopters in the sky with the kids while I made calls to try to get home. Major got really fussy when I was trying to wrangle my other children and calm them down from the evening’s happenings. Without hesitation, he took Major out of his seat and gave him the bottle I had prepared from earlier. It seemed like he does that every day, knew how to hold him and when to burp him. Major even filled his pants during his feeding and the trooper laughed and continued feeding him.”
“He then helped unload all of our stuff from our car to his and drove our family to the nearest hotel. It was late, nothing was open, and we couldn’t get a rental car until the morning. He helped unload our unruly amount of crap into our hotel room, told us where all the rental car places were, gave the girls a hug, and told us to call if we needed anything.”
It’s a police officer’s job to keep us safe. But this, my friends, is ABOVE and BEYOND the call of duty!
9. This selfless neighbor who used his own body to shield a stranger from flying bullets.
In the midst of evil, light will always prevail. That’s one thing that the Bible and the World somehow always find a way to agree on. Nothing shows the power of selflessness and loving your neighbor then doing so in the darkest moments.
That’s just what Brendan Kelly did in October when bullets started raining down on the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Before I knew what was going on, Brendan tackled me down to the ground and covered me from the fire,” a young woman wrote on Facebook. “It stopped again and he looked around to see what was happening and then it just kept going.”
A U.S. Marine, Brendan exceeded his duty to serve and protect. It’s in his blood to put others’ lives before his own, and during the festival, he did just that! Pulling his new blonde friend up from the pile of people, he helped rush her to safety.
10. This man whose generous tip was the blessing this waiter never saw coming.
When a restaurant customer noticed his waiter, named Johnny, was having a particularly hard day, he responded in a way that most wouldn’t.
Rather than calling over a manager, or leaving Johnny some measly tip to prove a point, the diner summoned his waiter over to the table and gave him a $100 after feeling God nudging him to do so.
“You just paid off my car sir,” said the grateful young man as he stood there weeping in shock.
Then the customer felt he was supposed to sow into Johnny’s life BIG time, and $100 just wasn’t going to do the trick.
All of these beautiful God moments are the very essence of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Just because someone doesn’t appear to “deserve” a blessing, doesn’t mean we aren’t still called to love them the way the Lord commands us to. May these stories inspire you to be in tune with the spirit today, to love God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Be sure to also check out: 20 Inspiring Photos to Restore Your Faith in Humanity
