One of the curious, but pleasant experiences of traveling and raising support is visiting churches full of complete strangers and immediately feeling right at home. What makes it even odder (is that a word?) is the fact that many times the town or church is nothing like our home and church. This past weekend was another example of meeting strangers and being welcomed as family.
In an earlier post, I described Travel with Sam. What I did not elaborate on was our visit with the host family. Our hosts were Randy and Sally Jenkins. Randy is the pastor at Wilson PCA. These wonderful folks live out in little old Lucama, North Carolina, about 10 miles from Wilson, NC. They obviously love the Lord. They also love children - they are the proud parents of 8 children ranging in age from 10 months to 18 years. And they have the gift of hospitality.
Behind their house they have a 1 bedroom efficiency apartment with a kitchen and den. The children (ours, not theirs) slept on the pull out couch while we got the bedroom. In the kitchen, the fridge was stocked with breakfast and they had plenty of coffee with the fixings available. It was a comfortable stay.
But more important than the accommadations were the conversations. Marti and Sally shared stories of being home school moms, homemaking, and ministry. Meanwhile, Randy and I talked some football, ministry, and swapped stories about our guitars; he by far had the most interesting story about buying his Martin guitar some 30 years earlier for about $600!
When we left their house, we felt more refreshed than when we started the weekend. We began to wonder about the whole concept of hospitality. Was it optional? Isn't that how the world will know we are Christians by our love? Are people like the Jenkins really strangers, or did we just experience once more that we really are brothers and sisters in Christ?
I enjoyed your website! As a missionary on deputation myself (not sure if that is what you call it...) I was encouraged by your entries. Keep up the good work, and be assured of our prayers.
Posted by: Andrew | January 12, 2004 at 12:20 PM