Moved into the Neighborhood

Melissa Logsdon – February 10, 2026 1 Comment

With all this cold weather, it’s been quite mesmerizing to watch all the steam and smoke rising up from the dryer vents and chimneys in my neighborhood. I remember as a kid thinking this is how clouds were made!

Watching these “clouds” rising up to the heavens, reminds me of a watercolor painting. This painting is on a scroll I received while living in China. It’s an image of a woman lighting incense and watching the smoke rise up to the heavens. The story goes that she was praying for salvation from an abusive husband. Apparently, it’s a well-known tale in Chinese culture. Even though it’s a somber image, it does serve as a reminder for me to pray for salvation in my situations.

Do you, like I, ever think of your prayers like this steam or smoke? Wafting up to the heavens…hoping your prayers make it to God’s ears?

There’s so many scriptures of how God is close and how God longs to hear us and answer us. So, I’m just not sure why we might feel this way. But, a lot of us do (at least from time to time). 

I’m currently reading through the gospel according to John, in the Message translation. And I ran across a verse (1:14) that stopped me in my tracks: 

“The Word became flesh and blood,

and moved into the neighborhood.”

Wow! 

I think most translations say that Jesus, “made himself at home with us”. Which is also lovely. But, this “moved into the neighborhood” seemed to really hit me hard.

One of my college psychology courses assigned a book to read entitled, Theirs is the Kingdom by Robert D. Lupton (I went to a Christian college). What stands out to me over 20 years later is the part of the author talking about wanting to make a difference in a specific lower economic neighborhood, and so, he moved into the neighborhood. He built relationships with his neighbors, got to know them and what their needs were, and helped work with them to create what was needed. 

In 2010, Steve and I moved to Peoria to help start a church and hopefully make a difference in the community we chose to live in. We found we qualified for a “moderate income housing” apartment complex. And so, we moved into the neighborhood. We lived there for 5 years, building relationships with our neighbors. I helped watch kids and helped my neighbor with a garden she created at the entrance to our building. We would throw parties and gather together for bonfires and bbq’s. We all kept an eye out for each other; we got to know each other intimately and support each other. We had a chance to have close relationships with people that we may not otherwise have gotten to know.

And that’s what Jesus did for us. He moved into the neighborhood. So we could get to know God. John refers to Jesus as “the God-Revealer” and explains (1:16-18): 

“We all live off his generous abundance, gift after gift after gift. 

We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, this endless knowing and understanding— all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. 

No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.”

May we look to Jesus, the God-Revealer, to come to know the heart of God. And may we remember that God is not somewhere far off that we are trying to fling our prayers up to, but that God has moved into the neighborhood, is ever close, and the Spirit of God is present with us and hears our every prayer!

-Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor