love your neighbor...

When Ryan and I moved to the Atlanta area we landed in a temporary living situation that gave us the chance to feel out the city for ourselves and figure out where we'd like to live. Ryan always thought he'd find a job, then we'd find somewhere to live conveniently between my office and his and then we'd find a church we liked. Strangely enough it worked backwards.

We felt absolutely at home and at the same time challenged to believe the gospel in our day to day lives when we worshipped at Atlanta Westside Presbyterian (affectionately called "Westside"). As it turned out they are passionately missional about the neighborhoods on the Westside- inside the perimeter West of 75/85 & midtown, North of I-20 which led to our renting a house in one of these neighborhoods. We love being just a little over a mile away from our church in a metropolis like Atlanta. What's more- many of the involved church members live in our neighborhood or nearby ones which makes Atlanta feel a little less sprawling.

In an effort to be invested and involved in our community Ryan and I attended our first neighborhood association general assembly meeting. Maybe I am my mother's daughter, but it was fascinating. Building code officials came to inform us that everyone in the city of Atlanta is required to have a permit to do some of the simplest things (say, installing a ceiling fan). There was also quite a to-do about a traffic problem due to a nearby AmTrack station.

The tension in the room rose several degrees when, following a glitzy powerpoint presentation about the remaking and remarketing of a local mixed use development (live, work, shop), the retail marketing director declared deepest intentions to "connect" to our neighborhood. She was utterly unaware of an ugly situation that will finally be resolved this year with a hefty cash payout to our neighborhood association where the previous owners of said development promised to build a walking bridge over railroad tracks separating our neighborhood from the development but defaulted. Residents were incredulous that she could make such a claim after the history that she was quite oblivious to.

We left before the voting began on 2 agenda items that we trusted others to speak up for. Overall it was an entertaining experience in neighborhood politics and city dwelling. We really enjoyed learning more about the culture of our new home.

We are really looking forward to the first friday in May for the first of many "Fiesta Fridays" in the neighborhood. Neighbors gather for BYO drinks and appetizers- we hope to get to know some of them better.