Almost all of us are interested in what’s going on in the lives of our spouses and immediate family members. We usually have a pretty high degree of interest in cousins, aunts, uncles, as well as in our best friends. We like to know how they’re doing, how their health is and so forth. We take time to listen to them. We let them know we care.

But how about the teller at the bank? Or the waitress who served us breakfast? Or the clerk who checked us out at Walmart? Do we ever recognize them as human beings, or do we think of them as part of the furniture, or as robot placed there for our convenience?

Think of someone you see on a regular basis, maybe not every week, but at least frequently. Maybe the lady who does your hair. Maybe your pedicurist. A greeter at your church.

What do you know about that person? Do you know his or her name? Whether or not he or she is married? Kids? Health? Does that person know that you care about him or her?

There are far too many strangers in our lives. I’m not just talking about the guy in the next car we’ll probably never see again. I’m talking about strangers we see on some regular basis. Far too many of these people are strangers to us, even though they may play a part of some importance in our lives.

You know what? People are human beings. They all have feelings, ambitions, desires. Far too many of them go through life being ignored by everyone they see. We’ve become a nation of head-duckers.

Through the years, I’ve learned that sometimes the simplest act of kindness can make a profound difference in someone’s life. Being called by name can brighten the whole day. Knowing that someone cares can make life more bearable when times are tough.

Realizing these things, I’m going to start a blog series on people. Unsung heroes. People it’s easy to overlook. People whose jobs put them in the position of making my life better in some way or another.

Christians are commissioned by Jesus Himself to go into all the world making disciples. All too often, I’ve seen dear Christian brothers and sisters get into shouting matches with nonbelievers or try to persuade them through logical arguments. Neither of these techniques is effective at winning converts.

There’s an old saying that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. I take that to heart. I’ve never been one to start up conversations about Jesus with strangers. I prefer, instead, to love them in hopes they will see the love of Jesus through me. Just let people know I care.

I don’t know just where this series will take me. I may write about a half dozen people and then run out of steam. I may start noticing people I haven’t really noticed before. I probably won’t devote every blog post to this series. I see it more as a now-and-then series.

I hope in the process I will let some of the people who touch my life in some peripheral way know that I’ve noticed them and that I care. And I hope that I’ll cause some of my readers to notice others around them and let those people know they care.

We won’t be talking about great generals or Presidents or movie stars. We’ll be dealing with ordinary people who get overlooked far too often. I hope this idea of honoring people will resonate with you. If so, I hope you’ll suggest reading it to some of your friends. Maybe we can brighten some people’s lives.

What people can you think of, people you deal with on some basis or another, who are overlooked? How do you deal with people like this? Our readers would like to know.

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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.