When I hear the words "small town" the first word that comes to mind is gossip. At least that is what I used to think until I moved to a small town and found out what their definition of being in every-body's business is.
I remember when our neighbor had his heart attack. He had been planning on taking down a dead tree and of course, all the neighbors knew about it. While he was laying in the hospital bed, those same neighbors got together and took down the dead tree and even cleaned up the mess! They didn't want him to have to worry about it.
Another neighbor had battled cancer for several years. When it got to the point that he could no longer walk, the men's prayer group from the Riverside Baptist Church came and built a handicap ramp that lead from the driveway up and on to his porch to make it easier to wheel him in and out of the house. Oh how Otis was blessed by this showering of love from his brothers.
When Uncle Gene (no relation -- that's just what everyone called him) was dying, Aunt Dot couldn't bear to leave his side. The neighbors called before heading to town to see if they could pick up prescriptions, groceries or anything else that they might need. You see, Uncle Gene and Aunt Dot had become family.
In times like these I often hear "There is nothing that we can do, its out of our control." That is simply not true. While we cannot change the situation, we can pray to the one who can, and trust Him that He knows what is best. Then... we can look for little ways to show that we care.
Those small town folks are always in our business -- Thank God!
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