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)!