{"id":28660,"date":"2020-09-10T03:30:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T10:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=28660"},"modified":"2020-09-09T13:55:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T20:55:50","slug":"september-10-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2020\/09\/10\/september-10-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"September 10, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.”\u00a0<\/i>Hebrews 13:2<\/p>\n

Ready or Not<\/b><\/h2>\n

Recently, it came to my husband\u2019s and my attention that someone we know was suddenly going to need a place to stay. I guess I should have been a little more happy to help, but I thought I knew just what that would entail, and it wasn\u2019t gong to be pretty. I thought to myself, well, I should <\/i>be a little more hospitable. What would Jesus do in this scenario? After all,\u00a0He\u00a0<\/i>is our role model.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I\u2019m completely anti-social or rude, but hospitality hasn’t come easy for me, and I\u2019ve had to rely completely on the Lord\u2019s help so many times. I even joined a hospitality team at church to glean a few pointers from these amazingly gracious women of God. Thankfully, I\u2019ve gotten somewhat better at reaching out to others over the years.<\/p>\n

But somehow, I still wasn’t prepared for the terrible feeling I had about hosting this person for a period of time. To be honest, I felt like I was going to the guillotine, and that\u2019s no joke. But, ready or not, the company arrived.<\/p>\n

I did my best to try to make him feel comfortable. After all, he was out of his\u00a0<\/i>element also\u2014uprooted, thrown into our home and our ways. This really shouldn\u2019t have been about me at all, but interestingly, the Lord uses every situation to work on many different fronts.<\/p>\n

It reminded me of some of the short mission trips I went on years ago, that same feeling inside of being “out of my element” with a big side of panic. It\u2019s that “sink or swim” phenomenon, when thrown into something you feel ill-equipped to handle. To be honest, on one outreach, I even ducked into an outhouse crying my eyes out to the Lord, screaming\u00a0<\/i>“I CAN\u2019T DO\u00a0<\/i>THIS!” Exactly.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the Lord allows us to get to that point, where fear, dismay, and looming disaster all collide into one big avalanche and there\u2019s no way out, except\u2014you guessed it, faith\u00a0<\/b>and trust<\/b>, the two twins of following Jesus. Without those two things propelling us, we\u2019re just treading water in our own strength.<\/p>\n

It seems that each believer has their own tipping point, and what causes such dismay to one, may be a piece of cake to another. But Jesus knows, and time and time again, we will come to the realization He\u2019s teaching us the fine art of “dying to self.” Ouch.<\/p>\n

Well, by the time our company left, I\u2019m pretty sure my “self” was now \u00a0good\u00a0<\/i>and dead; I was plum exhausted and worn to a frazzle. But somewhere, deep down in my gut, there was this little glimmer of joy trying to reach the surface\u2014hmm, I think Jesus was smiling. And that was worth everything.<\/p>\n

Dear Jesus, we so often try to run from the things that turn out to be the most beneficial and rewarding. Forgive our weakness and fill us with Your Spirit so we can truly be Your hands and feet. Thank You for Your patience and grace. Amen.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>

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