DEVOTION

Have you ever experienced a moment when you just knew you would never be the same?

God used a very simple moment on a Crossings Learning and Cultural Engagement (LACE) trip to Nairobi, Kenya in February 2019 to change my perspective. Our team traveled to Kenya to learn from and serve with Crossings missionary partners, the Bransfords.

One of the most meaningful days for me was spent in the Kibera slums, the third-largest slum in the world. Kibera is where I experienced a gift of hospitality that changed the way I want to interact with others.

We met a friend of the Bransfords named “V.” V invited us to share lunch in her home. Her tiny, humble home was made of sheet metal and could fit inside most American living rooms. Her dining room table and chairs were a coffee table with mismatched furniture and a couch. She invited ten of us into her home and lovingly served a delicious traditional Kenyan meal.

It wasn’t the food or atmosphere that burned into my memory so vividly; it was the way I was treated and valued. V had just met us. Ten of us. We had been walking the slums all morning. We were messy. We were ugly. We smelled.

She didn’t ask us if we went to church, the basis of our theology, or our political party. This beautiful Kenyan woman invited us into her home—ten smelly American strangers—with welcoming arms and loving hugs, then served a generous meal with her extremely limited resources.

I was loved, valued, and treated with care and dignity at the outset, no questions asked. Her act of hospitality drew me to her, and I naturally wanted to get to know her. I felt so very unworthy and so blessed by the love and generosity she shared around her table that day.

I left her home considering when I had ever shown this kind of hospitality to someone outside of “my circle.” Relationships happen when we open our hearts, our homes, and our lives without reservation. From V, I learned the value of loving first, no questions asked.

Isn’t this just the way Christ has loved us?

PRAYER

Loving Heavenly Father,

Thank you for accepting me just as I am—messy and so unloveable. Thank you for loving me so much that you gave your only Son so I may be seated at your table. Change my heart. Help me to see others through your eyes and love them as you do. Help me to open my heart and love and value every individual just as they are, no questions asked, so they may begin to understand how much they are loved and valued by you.

Amen.

Melissa Wilson

Community Center Administrative and Special Projects Coordinator

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