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by Sally Matheny
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| Strangers in Our Homes |
If a stranger shows up at my front door, 9 times out of 10, I’m not letting him in. I may not even go to the door. I suppose I’ve listened to too many horror stories. Some were fictional. Some were real.
Maybe you’re brave and open your door every time. The Bible does say,
“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1-2(NIV)
However, you could be like me. You listened to the school presentations on stranger danger. Crime stories in the news made an impression. Let’s not forget the numerous scriptures mentioning the necessity of posting guards.
So, should we allow strangers into their homes?
Read more »
by Sally Matheny
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| Put Out the Welcome Mat |
One arm of our sofa is flat and dingy-looking because it’s our kids’ favorite spot to dangle. While the laminate hardwood floors don’t show spots like the former carpet did, we have yet to see it shine as it did in the store display. In addition, a mysterious stain still clings to the ceiling.
I think about these things when there is a possibility of guests. I would love to put out the welcome mat; it’s just that it’s clabbered with dog hair.
Aside from the home appearance factor, showing hospitality takes time and effort. Sometimes, we determine the work is worthy because it’s for the family and friends we love. But what about strangers? In this day and age, is it necessary to welcome strangers into our home?
According to God’s Holy Word, the answer is yes.
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 4:7-11 (NIV)
To “love one another deeply” is a sacrificial love. It will cost us something. And we are to host with grace, not grumbles.
We need not install a revolving door in our homes or post a blinking neon sign out front stating our home is open 24/7. The Bible says to be alert and sober-minded so that we can pray.
Seeking God’s will and trusting Him to provide must be our first priority. What will God provide?
“Whatever gift you have received to serve others”
We recently met an innkeeper who uses his forte to attend to others. Whitestone Inn is a AAA, four-diamond resort. Innkeeper, Paul Cowell and his wife enjoy providing a luxurious stay for their customers—especially those who are full-time pastors and missionaries, who receive fifty-percent off the normal rate. They also run promotions for cancer patients and those serving in the military. Cowell demonstrates his love for Christ in other ways. He asks all his guests to join him as he prays over each evening meal. Wholesome books line the shelves of the inn’s library. Marriage enrichment guides and a special hiking trail are provided for couples who wish to participate. The Cowells are using the gifts they have received to serve others.
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| Whitestone Inn in Kingston, Tennessee |
“God’s grace in various forms”
Janet Albury’s husband and teenage daughter died in an airplane crash. In the process of grieving, she met a missionary family whose daughter also died in the same accident. God’s grace sustained these families and it gave Janet a vision for service. She built a house for missionaries and pastors, to get away with their families, for rest and rejuvenation.
In addition to staying in this beautiful place (C. Grace at Work), free of charge, the guests are also welcomed on the first night’s stay with a delicious, home cooked meal.
Janet Albury exemplifies God’s grace.
“Strength for the task”
Physical limitations and fear are some of the greatest obstacles to opening our homes. This is where prayer and faith play out.
A family in South Africa took in a man recently paroled from prison. Despite his years of incarceration on a murder charge, this family has made their home a welcoming haven for him. This demonstration of God’s love made a huge impact on him and broke ground for a new life.
God gave this family courage and strength for the task.
“In all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ”
You may not be an innkeeper or have the ability to build a special place of retreat. God may not be calling you to host former inmates in your home. However, be careful of disregarding your call to hospitality.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)
I’d rather the angels not see the stains in my home, but somehow I don’t think they’d even notice. Besides, hospitality is not really about the location as much as it is the act of kindness.
There are as many different ways to show hospitality as there are dust bunnies in my house.
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| There are many ways to show hospitality. |
Want some ideas? Check out a blog post by Aleisha Caldwell that features 40+ ideas for practicing hospitality at Feathers In Our Nest.
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13 (NIV)
Hospitality presents us with opportunities to show God’s love. Give your best. Be intentional. Be creative. Look past the stains in your home, the stains of your past sins, and the stains in other people’s lives. Pray, and be ready to put out the welcome mat—pet hair and all.
Share with us! Tell a time when someone's hospitality made a difference in your life.
Taking a look at each of my father’s sisters as a subject has been an interesting process. I began yesterday with the middle sister. Today I’ll look at the eldest sister, taking those memories of my own, as faulty as those might be.
First of three beautiful daughters, and small of physical stature, her birth brought much joy to her parents in the middle of the roaring 20’s. Soulful eyes gazed out onto the world, looking for her place in it. Like all children, she had to wait for the answers to her future.
My aunt helped her parents work the small farm that surrounded them. The culture and the times demanded that all hands keep busy and help tend to the family crops, chores, and everyone’s general welfare. By the time she was ready to enter adulthood, fear and pain would be a constant companion.
This was the woman who, many years later, during my teen years, listened to her daughter and me talk into the night, as we giggled about secrets in the next bedroom. Long evenings passed while the peacocks called from their sentry stations around the horse farm. Summer’s warm, lazy breezes at night fluttered bedroom curtains as we slept in the house she cared for.
And this was the woman who’d lived through what would crush many others.
When my aunt was a teen, polio still crippled individuals and families’ spirits. It was said that she became ill with something that acted suspiciously like that disease. Recovery was long and halting.
Nevertheless, her salvation arrived on the heels of fear and pain. The love of her life came to champion her, to take her in his arms and carry her through life. What could she do but allow this strong, gentle suitor to take her hand, as protector and husband?
With his help and love, she overcame the effects of her illness. It wasn’t easy, but she did it. They started their family and lived as everyone else did on a farm.
Years later, when her son and daughter were in their early teens, a shocking and terrifying event changed the course of her days. Tending the family vegetable garden was challenging in the southern summer heat, yet picking veggies for the dinner table wasn’t considered debilitating.
Within that space between heartbeats terror struck. With the suddenness of an adder’s bite, her vision disappeared in one eye. Her eyes had never been good, but now she was challenged as never before.
When she finally got to the eye doctor, the verdict wasn’t good. The retina was badly torn. She had to face the probability of never regaining her sight in that eye and the other retina wasn’t too stable, either. The doctor’s diagnosis was heart-wrenching.
Instead of flailing around in a soup of depression and self-flagellation, lamenting forever what she’d lost and how unfair life was, she fought to regain as much independence as possible. She learned Braille, retrained herself so that she could continue doing all of those tasks she’d done before the accident. Her family helped as much as possible, which proved sorely needed.
Not long after her trial by blindness began and she’d made significant progress, my uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He die
Demi. The Hungry Coat. Margaret K. McElderry, 2004.
“Once upon a time in Turkey there lived a funny, little wise man named Nasrettin Hoca. He wore a huge, white turban and a worn-out coat made of patches upon patches. Riding about on his little gray donkey, he liked to help whomever he could.”
When Nasrettin sets out to visit a friend who’s having a banquet, he encounters a caravan getting wrecked by a frisky goat. Because he stops to help, Nasrettin finds he doesn’t have time to change his dirty clothes before visiting his friend. He finally arrives, but instead of the friendly, cheerful welcome he expects, he is ignored. Nasrettin slips out and returns, this time wearing an elegant silk coat. The host promptly invites him in and gives him all the fine food previously denied him. But Nasrettin has a trick up his sleeve; he starts to feed his coat instead of his belly! Children will love chanting the refrain “Eat, coat, eat” and as they participate in the story, they’ll understand what Nasrettin’s host should have: It’s wrong to judge a person by his clothes. Demi’s gorgeous paintings feature the motifs and colors of traditional Turkish art and brighten this lively tale featuring Turkey’s famous folk hero.
More Tales of Hospitality
Becker, Bonnie. A Visitor for Bear. Candlewick, 2008. A grumpy bear posts a “No visitors” sign outside his door. But a bright-eyed, friendly mouse keeps popping in and opens Bear’s eyes to his need for companionship.
Leodhas, Sorche. Always Room for One More. Illus. by Nonny Hogrogian. Caldecott Medal. Lachie MacLachlan lives in a “wee house in the heather” in Scotland, with his family of twelve. He always welcomes every weary traveler who wanders by in rough weather. His guests show their gratitude in a delightful way that continues to charm readers young and old.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. Nora’s Ark. Harper-Collins, 2005. Based on the Vermont flood of 1927, the author tells a memorable story of how a girl’s grandparents welcome neighbors, chickens, ducks, pigs, a horse and a cow into their home on the hill as the waters rise and uproot their community. The humorous, detailed paintings by Caldecott Medal-winning artist Emily Arnold McCully evoke the dangers of the flood and the warmth of a kitchen filled with kind people and good cheer.
Muth, Jon. Stone Soup. Scholastic, 2003. Muth retells a beloved old French folktale and transports it to China. Instead of hungry soldiers, he features three monks who know the importance of community in making people happy. This picture book presents a feast for the eyes, heart and mind.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Mice and Beans. As Rosa Maria prepares for a big family party, some mice are planning their own festivities. Even though Rosa Maria sets mouse traps, the mice save the day when they notice she forgot to stuff the piñata.
Rylant, Cynthia. The Relatives Came. Aladdin, 1993. It’s a full, full house every year when the relatives come bumping up from
By: Rebecca,
on 1/23/2008
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Colin Grant is the son of Jamaican parents who moved to Britain in the late 1950s. He spent 5 years studying medicine before turning to the stage. He has written and produced numerous plays and is currently a producer for BBC Radio. In his new book, Negro with a a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey Grant looks at one of the most controversial figures in African-American history. Both worshiped and despised, Garvey led an extraordinary life as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which had branches in more than 40 countries. In the article below Grant looks at Garvey through a modern lens, comparing him to Barack Obama.
During an outbreak of the unique American pastime of lynching in the 1920s, the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People sent for its secret weapon: Walter White. The NAACP operative was so fair-skinned that he could travel to the South incognito, infiltrate the lynch mobs and investigate their actions without fear of molestation or loss of life. Nonetheless, this unenviable task exacted a psychological toll on his delicate mind. In his later years, White would recall how petrified he was of being uncovered by hateful, bigoted Southerners who had refined their own pseudo-scientific tests for unmasking blacks ‘passing’ for whites. Caught in conversation with one such man, White was bid to hold out his hands so that his finger nails might be examined: ‘Now if you had nigger blood,’ said the smiling Southerner, ‘it would show here on your half-moons.’ Walter White survived the inquisition; his cuticles did not betray him.
In some regards, Barack Obama has pulled off a similar coup. (more…)
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she sounds like a wonderful woman. Through her ups and downs she just purged on. you are lucky to have her as an example.
Thank you, Tina. I’ve always had such terrific role models in my life. I have been blessed with strong examples of the kind of person I wanted to be. I’m glad you enjoyed the read.
Claudsy
superb post! Keep up the awesome work!