A Story Of Costly Hospitality

"Jesus' half-brother James wrote that we do not know what our lives will be like tomorrow. If I am just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes, how am I to glorify God?"

This is the question that led a family at Canyon Ridge to devote their lives to the way of hospitality. With an unlikely encounter, they were able to express hospitality with eternal impact.

​"When I married in 1981, my husband and I received many gifts. I knew I could tithe easily on the financial gifts, but I wondered how to tithe on all the tangible gifts. My mother told me that my house should be used for the Lord, and that would be my offering to him."

Over the years, they and their 4 children opened their home to host all kinds of people, from strangers to family. This became a part of their life. But in 2000, a friend from church shared about a person she met in prison. A woman serving time for dealing drugs was about to be released on house arrest and didn't have a place to come home to. She was a mother to two young children.

"Everything within my being said, 'no.'" They had every excuse, every rational reason to say no, so it was a shock when out of their mouth came the words, "Yes, of course! When does she and her children need to move in?"

And so, a new journey for these two families began. "It seemed everything in our lives had changed," from reorganizing the home to house three more people, moving around family finances to feed three more, and adjusting their daily calendar to include job seeking, counseling, and babysitting to name a few. But most importantly, "helping her to see who she was in Christ is the reason the yes came from my mouth." 

"The difficulty of our lives during this season were met with sweet results. God does work that way." Now, this stranger-turned-dear friend lives in a different state, works, owns a home, is married, and loves Jesus. 

"If my life, a vapor, is just a part of bringing her to Christ, I praise God. It reminds me of the privilege and honor we each have to reach beyond our comfort and allow the Holy Spirit to work his hospitality through us." What yes will you offer God when no makes so much more sense? How will you be faithfully, hospitably unreasonable?