In Luke 10, Jesus answers this question with His parable of 'The Good Samaritan.'  Richard Hildebrand of Milford, IA visited school today to talk to our kids.  He is the brother of our Kindergarten teacher, Joan Kern.
 
A high school industrial arts teacher and builder, Richard is also a regular volunteer for STEMM - Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries (Sioux City, IA).  A children's musical done earlier this year at Christ Lutheran, 'Barbeque for Ben,' raised money for this mission project, and Richard was here today sharing slides and the story of the mission in Tanzania with our students.
 
Richard mentioned that the people in his pictures are all dying of AIDS...and they are our neighbors.
 
Last week, individual classrooms at Christ collected money to be given to Thrivent (for a match) and then sent on to Haiti for earthquake relief.  I was in some classrooms this morning watching students excitedly count up what they've gathered.  You've seen the pictures of so many Haitian children on TV...and these, too, are our neighbors.
 
For the next two Wednesdays, I will be leading Chapel worship and, using the parable of 'The Good Samaritan,' I'll be teaching our children about some other neighbors in Africa, the people of Kenya, many of whom are suffering and dying from malaria.  Again, many of them children and, again, these are our neighbors.
 
The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is this month's Michigan District Hearts for Jesus mission project.  Thousands of Lutheran students from across Michigan will be collecting Chapel offerings to benefit this mission.
 
A little side note - the need is great!
 
In talking with Mr. Hildebrand today, he mentioned that the need in Haiti, while very serious, also has caused gifts to STEMM to decline.  This is not unusual when a high profile, 'in the news,' type disaster strikes and as good people seek to help those in need, it inevitably diverts gifts from other necessary missions.  We live in a world where the need is always great to share the Good News of the Savior and to help our neighbors.