I’ve written about hospitality before, and how it’s the doorway into the Kingdom. The first thing you notice about Jesus is way he honored people and welcomed them into his presence.
Last week in DaMour, Lebanon I experienced a level of hospitality deeper than anything I’ve ever seen. In a classroom of Syrian, Lebanese, Armenian, Brazilian, and American Believers, I was made to feel like a visiting dignitary. They didn’t even want me to fill my own water glass from the tap. The honor and respect these students extended to each other, along with their shiny smiles, was a compelling reflection of the Kingdom. It was my first time teaching in the Middle East, and I sure hope it won’t be the last.
Now I’m in Budapest with a happy group of American and Canadian students. I had the worst travel experience of my life on the flight from Beirut when we got diverted and then stranded in Izmir, Turkey, for ten excruciating hours. But that story will have to wait until another time. It was a maddening example of a worldview that values control over relationship, almost the exact opposite of my experience in Lebanon. And to make matters worse, the airline lost my luggage. So here I am with only the clothes on my back.
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my Mom. She’s at home “taking it easy.”