Every Family in God's Service

Practicing Hospitality

By Jason Brown

As I write article, most of my family’s belongings are locked up tight in a 20x20 storage garage.  Almost everything I own is in storage.  My family is in the process of moving.  We sold our house and bought another one; the unfortunate part is we had to move out of our old house before we can move into our new one.  So in the meantime we are in a sense homeless.  Fortunately, we have great friends who have taken our family in for a week or two until we can finalize our new home and actually move in.

So why do I write about this?  Several reasons:

First off even though nearly all my stuff is locked up in storage I really don’t miss any of it.  My family is doing great, we have a place to stay, we have some clothes to wear, and we have food to eat.  It’s funny after shutting the door on all that stuff, I realized how blessed we are.  Most people in the world don’t have enough “stuff” to fill a small closet and I sit with a packed 20x20 storage.  I thank God that I am so blessed.

Secondly, we have been blessed with great friends who have become our family this week.  They have opened up their home to us and allowed us to completely take over their upstairs.  They have let our children run through their home with all the things and loud noises children bring.  And they have even cooked for us!

I am reminded of Romans 12:13, “Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality”. This is what church family is about:  helping one another and taking care of needs.   We look forward to having a home again soon.  And it’s our hope that we too can practice hospitality and continue helping out those who need it.  But in the mean time we will be thankful that others are helping us out.

This week as you go about your busy life, look for ways to meet the needs of others.  Thank God for the blessings you have received and use those blessings to bless the lives of those who need it.