Saturday, May 26, 2012

Worry-Free Living: Internal GPS


One Christmas we bought our son Mark a portable GPS system for his car. Most new cars come equipped with one, but Mark drove a vehicle with “history.” He needed a GPS because Mark is, shall we say, directionally challenged.

During the holidays, Mark headed for his best friend’s home in Murphreesboro. He was to be back at 6 p.m. for dinner. When the meal was ready, Mark hadn’t arrived, so his dad called him. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. I’m lost.”

Now, think about this. Mark had been back and forth to his friend’s house dozens of times over the years. How could he be lost?
His answer surprised us: “I’m using my new GPS. It’s taken me a way I don’t recognize. I have no idea where I am.”

Mark’s plight sounds familiar to all of us who have tried to find our way on a strange road.

The Bible is our road map for life, but we may find ourselves navigating in rough terrain. The road may appear unmarked, without specific
Scriptural guidelines. It requires steps of faith, taking unfamiliar paths just as our biblical forbearers did. Getting off and then back on the road is one thing; staying on the road is quite another! I call it “living between the ditches.”

These ditches are spiritual paradoxes such as We can know God. God is mystery. And Christ sets us free. We are slaves of Christ. Now, since I’m into paradoxes and polarities and antonyms, I’ve coined two extremes of how we approach life. The first is life strife. The second is life stride. Stay tuned to read about the differences and which leads to worry-free living.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hospitality: My Elisha Room

If you've read my last postings, you are familiar with the fact that Kimberly lives in South Carolina. However, she makes monthly trips to Nashville for cancer treatments at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. Although the cancer treatment—an experimental drug—is "free," the expense of transportation, meals, and hotels over the months had eaten into her family's pocketbook. I feel led to offer my home as a place for Kimberly to stay.

In October, 2011, Kimberly came for her first stay at "Betty's Bed & Breakfast." Although it might appear that Sim and I were being the “good Samaritans” in this story, actually Kimberly was the answer to my prayers. You see, we had an “Elisha room” at our house, and I had been disappointed that we were not having occasion to use it regularly for ministry. In the pastorate, we seemed to always have someone visiting the church—whether a missionary or evangelist or ministry friends—but since leaving the pastorate, our extra bedroom and bath were sitting idle.

In case you don’t remember what an Elisha room is, here's the story from 2 Kings 4:8-10: "One day Elisha went to Shunem. A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat. Then she said to her husband, 'I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, so let's make a small room upstairs and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.'"

My "Elisha room" is downstairs rather than upstairs and unlike Shunem, the view from the windows is the beautiful rolling hills and green foliage of Tennessee. We've had guests from Canada, Kenya, China, and Mexico. They have ranged from a ballet troop, to international students, to great evangelists. Of course, the most important guests have been my grandchildren!

The first Wednesday that Kimberly stayed with Sim and me, we went to prayer meeting at my downtown church. Kimberly met the people who are usually at "our" table. After the service, an interesting thing happened. One of my friends stopped me to say, “If Kimberly ever needs a place to stay, and you can’t keep her, let us know.” It seems she and her husband also have an "Elisha room." Sure enough, in November, Kimberly stayed with this couple, as I had family visiting. And they remain on stand-by when we are not available to keep Kimberly.

Since I have begun sharing Kimberly's story with others, I've found several families who have "Elisha" rooms. They just didn't have a name for this special place! Practicing hospitality is at the heart of Jewish and Christian teaching. Some scholars list hospitality as a gift of the Holy Spirit. If you have an empty bedroom at your house, think of ways it can be used for ministry. Opening your home to those who need a place to stay is an invitation for angels to visit (Heb. 13:2)!