Hospitality is a Gift

     My son Max and I are on an incredible spring break adventure in sunny Sarasota, FL. Our family lives on a pastor's salary, so out of necessity we are taking this trip "on a shoestring," relying on the hospitality of friends and even strangers.
     We could not have made a better decision, even if we had the money to stay in nice hotels on the beach.
     If we had not decided to lean on the gift of hospitality, we would not have been able to reconnect with the Lovelady's, a family that meant so much to my wife and I when we attended college.
     We would not have met Richard and Veronica, a British couple that opened their home to us in Sarasota. We had never even met "Rich and Veron" before this trip. Our stay with them was arranged by a friend-of-a-friend, but it made no difference. They took us in like family and I ended up sipping red wine with Richard last night and watching his favorite soccer team, Manchester United, defeat Marseilles on television.
     And we would not be reconnecting with old friends from my hometown in Pennsylvania. It will be so much fun to reconnect with Rob and Melissa in St. Petersburg, and for my 14-year-old son meet their teenaged daughter who used to play in the church nursery with him when he was a toddler.
     Hospitality is a gift of God, and we are enjoying the fruits of this gift on this special trip.
     We could have holed up in a La Quinta or Quality Inn for the whole trip, but I know we have made the right decision in leaning on friends and the spirit of hospitality to provide for a fun, less-expensive, and much more meaningful trip.
     Thanks be to God.

The Power of the Brown, Paper Lunch Sack

     It doesn't happen often, but this morning, for some reason, I was inspired to make our kids' lunches for school.
     Two plain peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread.
     Check.
     Two peanut butter and raspberry jelly sandwiches on whole wheat.
     Check.
     1-oz. bags of Cheetos, Doritos, Chips-a-Hoy cookies, 'Nilla Wafers tossed indiscriminately into each kid's brown paper lunch sack.
     Check.
     Clusters of grapes parceled in plastic Baggies, just to keep the kids honest.
     Check.
     It was an absolutely exhausting way to start my morning. Thank you, Honey, for taking care of this chore every other morning.
     But it wasn't but 15 minutes later than I found myself in the food pantry reaching for a brown, paper sack of my own. Maybe my large, 6-6 frame could get by on smaller portions of food today? Maybe I, too, could eat only what I could fit comfortably in a brown paper sack.
     I just went with this crazy impulse. Usually I reach for leftovers in the fridge, which can give me the gargantuan quantities that I consume for lunch. But maybe for today I could return to the simpler days when I ate only what Mom packed in a small, brown paper lunch sack.
     Here's what I was able to fit inside, and still have room to roll the bag shut:
     1 chicken deli-meat sandwich (with lettuce and mustard)
     1-oz. bag of Cool Ranch Doritos
     2 Double-stuff Oreo cookies
     1 banana.
     Can it be done? Can I make it through today with such simple quantities of food? And if I do make it through today on such meager portions, will I be ravenous at the dinner table tonight and cancel out any gains I made in portion control through the day.
     I have my doubts, but I am giving it a go. I tipped the scales at 258 this morning. This is 23 more pounds than when I arrived in North Texas in August.
     Now, I don't pretend that Oreos and Doritos are going to get me to where I need to be, but maybe portion control is a start.
     Thanks, brown paper bag, for a new beginning today.