Heavenly Hospitality

It has been quite a while since I was able to gather my thoughts and type them out for the world to read, in blog form. (The last post was a quite a few weeks ago, and those thoughts weren't even my own.) As I sit here now, reflecting on the past couple weeks, and this past week especially as classes started for Spring semester, I can't help but be a blogging type of mood.

Christmas break came and went, and I with it. I flew home for the Christmas, but left soon after for a backpacking adventure in California with one of my best friends, Ann. We spent a week touring the southern coast, basing our travels around the city of San Diego. If there was a way in which I could describe the all the incredible sights, sounds, and emotions we experienced you better believe I'd share them. From the time our plane landed in San Diego to the time we boarded a week later and flew back to Philadelphia, our world was rocked. It was a trip that came at a perfect time in my life. The last couple weeks of the past semester had been tough, suddenly any added stresses and demands were magnified, and I started having those "I just need to get away" thoughts. For a while, the trip had been the "light at the end of the tunnel," and became more than a tourist vacation, but a time of refocusing on what is really important.

When I stood in front of the Pacific Ocean watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, singing with Ann,"I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," God's natural beauty and spiritual comfort overwhelmed my thoughts and melted away any anxieties that had recently slunk into my life. It is amazing what happens when you give your worries to Him: you don't have them anymore!

Perfect example:
When planning our trip to Cali, Ann and I were trying to figure out where to stay but were struggling to find places cheap enough or safe enough for a couple college students on a tight budget. Hotels were safe but expensive, hostels were cheap but sketchy. In addition, our parents weren't thrilled with the idea of their two young ladies flying 3,000 miles away without a place to sleep each night, either, let's just say. So Ann, brilliant woman that she is, thought back to a youth conference she had attended a few years ago in CO, where they slept on the basement floors of the churches in the area. She e-mailed Church of the Brethren's, (Churches of the Brethren? How do you make that plural?!) to see if they would mind if some homeless Pennsylvanian girls stayed a night or two on their property while in the area. To our complete surprise, all of the pastors replied with the name/address of someone within their church willing to let us stay in their own home! Our worries about where to stay and how much it would cost us were suddenly wiped out when we asked God's own house, the church. We received the phone numbers and addresses of our hosts, as well, and each night when we arrived in their particular city or town, would call our host and they would come pick us up and bring us to their home. It was not only a wonderful way to meet and fellowship with our brothers and sisters, but an incredible witness of Christ's generosity and love that we sometimes fail to see in the world around us.

This week, in Old Testament Theology and Literature, my professor, Dr. Dwyer, was speaking about Ancient Near East values and how they compare to the values and culture we live with and within today. Among a list that included such items as honor, marriage, and the significance of meals, hospitality was mentioned. Citing Genesis 18:1-8, Dr. Dwyer commented on Abraham, about 99 years old at the time, actually running around his home and property to prepare a meal for three strangers who had walked by his house. For someone to rush out and greet a stranger is most unusual, but then for that person to offer a full meal to three strangers without first asking, "What do you want? Why are you here?" just doesn't happen in today's world.... right?

Wrong.
It happens in California.

It happens when two girls tell the church they are coming to visit from a distant land, and the church sends its hands and feet out to them, and offers a place for them to spend the night. Ann and I received hot meals, we received transportation, we received a bed, hot showers, and snacks/supplies for the rest of our journey. However, what shone through all of the hospitality, gifts, conversations, and acts of kindness was this: the love of God.

It was an encouraging aspect of our journey afar, for sure. Meeting and living with families up and down the southern Californian coast became an instant highlight of our trip, and the new friendships we have with once complete strangers are treasured much more than any "I <3 CA" t-shirt we would (n)ever buy.

As you enter the new year, may you also find God's love and generosity in the people surrounding you, and be yourself a witness to those searching for His love and comfort.