November 3, 2004

• Congrats to Bush!

  "Open your homes to each other without complaining." 1 Peter 4:9 (TEV)

  Today's devotion in the 40 DOC book "Better Together" was about being hospitable vs. entertaining. I had never thought about a distinction, until now. It was pretty cool! Entertaining always puts things before people (as soon as I get my house finished, the bedroom decorated, etc...then I will invite people over), Hospitality, however, puts people before things (we can just eat on the floor). And it made several comparisons like this. A very astute study and stark contrast.

  I love having people over, it is so fun. When Amazing Race was on (watch out, it's like 2 more weeks until a new season!) we'd have folks over on Tuesdays to watch that, Thursdays for THE APPRENTICE, Monday nights for our small group, and sometimes a weekend NERTZ party. SO much fun! BUT, it can get a little tiring for my wife, who likes to refuel alone, as I like to refuel with people (although, I MUST get my time alone in the morning to start my day....hmm...).

  It was cool also when RW talked about the fact that hospitable is in the dictionary sandwiched between the words hospice (which means shelter) and hospital (which means place of healing). So our Christian homes should be a place where we offer shelter, and healing to those around us. I don't know if this actually is the same as having friends over and watching TV or playing NERTZ. But our friend Mike did come to live with us for several months a couple of years ago-he was going through some rough times--and he is doing AWESOME now. No attribute to us, but I don't think we hesitated when it was our friend Mike. I know that we haven't taken in others since then...

  Which reminds me of my parents. My parents had a different person or teenager living with us all the time. Sometimes it was cool, and others it wasn't quite as cool (like one time, when this guy Tony tried to steal my sister's car, and ran away after that--plus he was a little crazy, I think). But I will never forget their attitude of hospitatlity; even when they were unsure of the person-they still opened up our home and trusted the Lord to take care of it.

  Last night at choir practice we set forth a vision of having our show "A TIme for Christmas" advertised on STAR 100.7 (the #1 radio station in San Diego). We didn't have the money to do that right now, so I announced that we were going to pray in faith that a donor (or several) would come forward to give the $2500 so we could do it. By the end of the night, I had three checks for $100 each, and one person who said they would match any donations UP TO $1250. That's already over half of the funds. I was (and still am) amazed at how God works. We have to know by today, and so I am still praying...Thank you Lord!

  • 10:17 am
  • 1 Comment