After three albums, a string of hit singles (including six No. 1 songs and eleven Top 5 hits), major tours with some of the biggest names in the business, and various awards (including a Dove Award for Modern Rock Album of the Year), Christian rockers Sanctus Real have kicked things up a notch with their latest offering, “We Need Each Other,” releasing February 12.
Not only is the project an amazing leap forward musically (it hits you right out of the box how much they’ve grown since 2006’s “The Face of Love”), the entire album encompasses a message the band has been modeling for years, both in their music and in their own lives: unselfish, compassionate love their fellow man.
Given the new album’s theme of unity, family and wholeness and February’s emphasis on love, I thought it was only fitting to have Sanctus Real’s drummer Mark Graalman share some thoughts on ways that you can love your neighbors:

1. Just be there. “We all have times when we could just use a friend during some sort of trial or hardship, and often those are the times when we find out who really cares about us and who considers us a priority. Love [a neighbor] by being there when they need you.”
2. Give. “A lot of times when someone is in need we tend to want to run and hide, because to help might mean we have to give of something that’s ours. You ever hear of someone’s desperate financial need right when you just got some extra cash you weren’t expecting? Yeah, you were all excited about getting to blow some money on something you don’t even need, but now you face a choice: to love or not to love. Remember, 1 Corinthians 13 says love is not selfish.”
3. Ease their load. “We all get overwhelmed at times in life with our responsibilities and work load. Maybe to show love to your neighbor you could offer to take some of their load, even if just for a little while, to give them a breather.”
4. Think practical. “Fifteen inches of snow just fell. You’ve got a snow blower, your neighbor doesn’t. Need I say more?”

5. Keep an open heart. “We may not always agree with someone’s lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean we have the right to treat them with less respect than someone whose lifestyle is similar to our own. In other words, show them love by not being a snob!”
–written by Joanne Brokaw