Noisy neighbors?

The noise didn't lessen, but my irritation with it disappeared.

By Evan Mehlenbacher

What do you do when you have noisy neighbors? Can prayer bring peace to your neighborhood? With God's help, harmony can be restored in the most unexpected ways.

My wife and I moved into a one-bedroom apartment when we were first married. Our neighbor next door liked to play his stereo loud in the evening. At first the noise didn't bother us, and we figured it was part of apartment living. But a few months later, a new neighbor moved in below us who liked to play his stereo loud late at night. His thunderous bass speakers would shake us out of bed at eleven-thirty every night. We were getting a little agitated.

Then a third new neighbor moved in across the sidewalk. During the afternoon she would open her patio doors and crank up her stereo so she could hear music on her deck. I worked in the apartment during the day, and it was getting difficult to concentrate. To add to the ruckus, a fourth new neighbor placed his stereo speakers on the edge of his deck and swelled the volume to the max so he could hear tunes while playing football and Frisbee out on the common.

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