Matthew 8:28-34

This passage is incredible to me. Jesus heals two men of demon possession. We see two men whose lives will be dramatically changed. They lived in burial caves at the town cemetary. People were so scared of them that they wouldn't even walk by.
Then Jesus shows up and heals these men. In doing so, a herd of pigs dies. Not too bad of a deal. But the town reacts in a peculiar way. They come out and "they begged him to leave their area." Think about that. They see that this man is able to do amazing things. They see that what he does is positive. But they are so scared by this power that they send him away. They want nothing to do with him.
This happens a lot to Christians. People we encounter don't really understand what we're doing. We live by different motivations. Even though a lot of what we do (hopefully all) is positive, they still want nothing to do with us.
My neighbors don't like to hang out with me. One neighbor who I am friends with said it's because they feel guilty about their lives when they hang around me. I don't judge them. I don't say anything about it. I try to just hang out and joke around with them. But they still feel awkward. It's a tough situation, and I don't know how to overcome it. JM