OPEN HOUSE

Yesterday, Jason and Ervin came to live with us. Only for six weeks, but for those six weeks, we have two new sons and they have a new home base. They will be mentoring fatherless middle school boys as part of a summer program with Shoulder to Shoulder in Sacramento. 

Two years ago we had two different young men stay with us as they worked with Shoulder to Shoulder. I’m not sure how blessed they were; but we were definitely blessed by their presence in our home.

We look forward to being similarly blessed by Jason and Ervin.

Of course, when the call came requesting our spare bedroom—as usual—my initial reaction was to wonder “how will this personally put me out?”

<sigh> Obviously God’s still got a lot of work to do in me.

In fact, my first thought was, “I won’t be able to lounge around in my PJs in the evening for six whole weeks.”

Are you laughing? After I stopped laughing at myself, too, I realized that such a “hardship” wouldn’t really be so hard after all.

It was at that point, amid the chuckling, that I heard the voice on the Bible CD playing in my head—of the Apostle Paul writing Hebrews 13:2.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

I’ll have to let you know if Jason and Ervin turn out to be angels. One thing I am sure of: they will be the hands of feet of Jesus to the fatherless boys they will be mentoring. That’s about as close to being an angel as us mortals can get.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us be attuned more closely to the Holy Spirit so that our first reaction to a need is graciousness. Please continue to work on us so that we become closer to your example, Jesus. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Have you had a time in your life that called for graciousness and discovered that it was actually your first response? Or, like me, does graciousness take a little more effort?