HOSPITALITY

I have often said of my friends in Talca, Chile, that if hospitality could kill you I’d be dead ten times over.  My host family for my stay there earlier this month, was Christian and Carmen Gloria Lopez.  They opened their home to me with wide and grace filled arms.  “Mi casa es su casa” they would say over and over again, making sure I knew they loved having me come and that their home was my home in Talca.  Carmen Gloria knew I like Coke (not Pepsi), and hot chocolate, so every morning for breakfast, I had orange juice, a can of Coke and a cup of hot chocolate with my breakfast.  As I left for the church to work on the construction project, she sent with me a bag containing snack cookies (mango/pineapple filled wafers that were out of this world), a 2 liter bottle of water and a Coke.  They also knew I like ice cream and had some of the tastiest flavors every evening about 9:00.  There were no small bowls handed to me, just bowls filled with enough ice cream to feed an army.  They also gave me their bed to sleep in while they slept on a twin sized mattress on the floor.  (No matter how much I protested and appealed to logic they refused.  Two of them on a twin sized mattress while one of me in a queen sized mattress just seemed wrong).  The folks at the church fed us marvelously, with breaks and meals all pushing some of the best bread in the world.  The love these folks poured out on me was so incredibly genuine and impactful. I came away blessed and challenged.  What part does hospitality play in my life?  How can I increase the love I show people through hospitality?  

Hospitality is a biblical value and though it may be a cultural value in Chile, the joy of Christian grace makes it come from the heart.  Hospitality!  I think it’s time to visit this biblical value once again!