same kind of people

Monday July 22^nd, Genesis 18: 9 "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him.  "There, in the tent," he said.  10 Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."  Some religions call it Karma, you do good and good returns.  It is a good principle, although it not always so straightforward.  Showing hospitality does not always bring hospitality in return.  Life is not always as simple as A+B=C.  But hospitable people, families, churches and communities often do find hospitality returned to them.  Welcoming the stranger into your midst requires that you are not committed to a static definition of who you are as a community.  Welcoming the stranger into your midst will bring change to your life and to the life of any organization.  Just as the blessing of new life brought to Sarah would mean her life would never again be the same, so too, the new life brought to your organization will mean this organization will never again be the same.  Some find that scary, others just laugh.  I am reminded of a story.  A man was out working in his field when someone came walking along the road with a donkey loaded with his worldly possessions.  “What kind of people live in that town up ahead?” was the question he shouted to the man working in the field.  “What kind of people lived in the town you just came from?” was his questioning reply.  The man with his possessions told him stories of how horrid and nasty the people were, full of disrespect and malice.  “I suspect you will find the same kind of people in that town up ahead” the man in the field told him after hearing his stories.  “You better keep moving if you are going to find what you are looking for” was the advice and the gift given.  About an hour later another man came along with a donkey filled with his possessions and asked the same question of the man in the field, “What kind of people live in the town up ahead?”  The man’s response, “What kind of people lived in the town you just came from?”  This time he was regaled with stories of friendship and hospitality, caring relationships and community.  “I hated to leave, but just felt the call for something new and different” the traveler said. “I suspect you will find the same kind of people in that town up ahead” the man in the field told him after hearing his stories.  “I think if you stop there you will find what you are looking for.”