Nostalgia grips me. A chilly afternoon in late fall. I drink the drink that sustained me as we lived in a decrepit trailer for the few months before we left on this journey.
We were blessed to live in my parents camper, we wanted to begin the process of our physical abandonment even before heading to Mexico. So we downsized. This process was necessary, but like our spiritual pilgrimage, arduous. We had a space heater, but on the cold nights our camper often dropped below 40 farenheit. We held on, with white knuckles, to one luxury: our coffee maker.
We spent the day at church today, Linnea, Stephanie, and I tag teamed the “Word of God”. Then we headed out to eat with Kent and Shay. (more on the service in the next blog).
I remember the first time I was introduced to spiritual gifts (I was, I believe, 26 years old and had been raised in the church, I guess in the discipleship process one must wait 26 years for this teaching?) I had no idea what prophecy was. Wisdom and knowledge, of course I had heard of, but as a gift? Shepherding? Creative Communication? There was a long list of gifts and a test to learn my strengths and weaknesses, and I was not surprised to learn that my lowest score was in administration. In fact, with the score of 2 I think I might have scored a little high. I believe I had a lot of gifts that scored right around a 28, to give an understanding of the relationships. One of my lower scores (I think this was from Bill Hybels stuff) was in hospitality.
I had not really ever given much thought to what hospitality is…until this week.
In my blog, “Testify”, I shared that we were tired and a couple suggested this mission house for us to come to…
We grew up in the land of Dunkin’ Donut’s. In fact, Linnea was born in Weymouth- the city where Dunkin’ Donut’s began. The town we lived in, Wilmington, had four DD’s on the same road, within the same 3 miles. That is the coffee we drink at home. That is the coffee that we kept in our coffee maker, which brewed 16 cups at a time, and had the dispenser that filled the cup when the cup was put under it. So easy. I would brew 16 cups of strong coffee when my alarm would wake me up at 3:30am. Drink some coffee with the morning devo’s, have some with breakfast, fill my bottle with it for work, then come home and take a nap.
After I would wake up from my nap, usually at noon (it’s a rough life), I would drink a couple cups of coffee. The cold coffee that has been sitting there all day. The DD French Vanilla, nice and cold, and gulp that down, black and bitter. This diesel would power me through my next six hours of work.
Today when we came home from 3 hours of church, an hour at a pizza place (where I had a pizza with barbecue spare rib and pineapple on it), and going to this store that sells shots of chocolate (I got 2!), guess what was in the coffee pot from the morning! Dunkin’ Donut’s French Vanilla! I finished it and loved it so much, I decided…I love everybody! (I shared with the lady working at the chocolate place that I believe chocolate and coffee are further proof of God’s love).
This week I have been shown an example of how important the gift of hospitality is. The couple that serve here are Kent and his wife, Shay. They are amazing. We are so thankful for them. On the 4th, they cooked us steaks! They drive us to places and are so encouraging.
At lunch today, Shay shared how she loves to watch the missionaries come to this house, so exhausted and discouraged, and leave ready to serve again. I think when I lived at home, I had no idea how draining life ‘on the field’ actually would be, and am so grateful for this week. I am so grateful for Kent and Shay.
Thank you Jesus, for giving people the gift of hospitality, we pray blessings over all the people serving you in this way.
