What does hospitality look like to you? It is easy to have the gift of hospitality with your family and friends but how about with strangers.

Well let me tell you about one man who decided that is what he wanted to do.

In 1994, a 37-year-old man by the name of Mike McIntyre decided to confront his fears and the shaky path his life was taking. Living in San Francisco at the time, he left his job, his girlfriend, his apartment - all the trappings of his life, and decided to hitchhike across America, heading for Cape Fear, North Carolina, a location he selected for its name, which symbolized his fear of many things in life. He put a few things in a backpack, but to help him with this confrontation with his fears, he left behind the one thing most of us would not leave home without - money.
He decided that he would rely on the hospitality of strangers. He decided he wanted to find some kindness in the soul of America, so he took with him absolutely no cash, no credit cards, no traveler's checks - no purchasing power of any kind. Instead, he decided, he would rely on The Kindness of Strangers. Even from them, he vowed, he would take no money, but would accept food, shelter, rides, and friendship. As he worked his way across the country, he found it was possible to do exactly that. He made the entire journey without money. He didn't eat as regularly as he would have if he were carrying cash, yet he received enough food to get by and was sheltered in people's homes along the way. 1

Today in our passage of scripture, because of a drought, God sent Elijah out to a foreign land. He, too, has to rely on strangers to care for him. So, he meets this woman at the city gate as she gathers wood for her last meal and then he asks for a drink and if she would feed him too.

During the Depression many people were out of work and hungry and they had to rely on the kindness of strangers to help them through the season of their life. It is said, that farmers all over the country opened their doors to feed many people who traveled around looking for work. They offered them their bars to sleep in.

As a church, we show hospitality every week. We have the greeters, welcoming all the visitors and they are on hand to answer any questions. We have the ushers keeping an eagle eye out for the new people in the service and we have the Fellowship Team preparing the beverages and food for our after service fellowship time. We have great hospitality. I hear people tell about the stories of their visits to church and they aren’t approached by anyone. No one helps them feel welcome. There isn’t anyone to help them find their way around and so they leave and don’t come back.

I am wondering how do we turn our church hospitality to outreach hospitality?

How about if we decided that instead of dependent on the hospitality of strangers that we took our own church hospitality out into the streets.

What if we decided that we wanted to show the world the kindness of Creekside instead of looking for kindness in the world. We would show the world our kindness - to take out own kindness down the highway.

What do we need to know to have hospitality highway? Well, I think we can learn from the hospitality principles of our widow today?

INTERRUPTED
So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"

Interruptions are a part of life but I believe as we pile the things in our schedules, we tend to leave any room for interruptions

I remember when Jesus in the midst of his busy life, was stopped on his way to heal a young girl, by the woman with the issue of blood. We have to remember that during Jesus’ time, huge crowds followed him. And so in the midst of the crowds and on his way to heal someone, his hem is touched and he stops as he realizes that the power had left him. He was not too busy to meet the need of someone in the midst of all these people. He stopped.

Grace interrupts us in the most inopportune times.

Byrl and I traveled with a group of seminary students and our Worship Professor on a mission trip to Italy. We arrived in Rome to do mission work and then we were to go to Milan and Florence and then back to Rome to enjoy some relaxation after our mission work.

During the time we were there, our professor came down with an infection that he had in the past. It was the day before we were ready to leave for Milan. Our professor couldn’t travel as we were working on getting him the antibiotics he needed. Italy has socialized medicine and we were able to go to the druggist and get his antibiotics ourselves. However, we had a dilemma. Our professor wanted to stay back and join us as soon as he felt better. He wanted us to go on and he stay with the missionaries. But the missionaries wanted no part of that plan. They had things to do and they had plans of their own and they did not want someone to be there to hold then back. They were getting ready for another group to come and following that they had a trip that they were taking to Turkey. They decided that if we left, they were putting our professor in the hospital.

Byrl and I decided that we would stay back with our professor and if we could we would join them as soon as he was well enough to travel.

Because the missionaries wouldn’t interrupt their plans, Byrl and I experienced a great part of the trip. We would get up in the morning, care for our professor and then take off for hours. We met so many people and had great conversations with people we found that could speak English. We had great times ministering to people on the streets.

Let grace interrupt you.

DO NOT FEAR
A three-year-old girl, Jenna, was having trouble sleeping through the night, waking up because she was afraid. Each time as her mother re-tucked her into bed, she would remind her that Jesus was with her and he would keep her safe. The sleepless nights continued, with Jenna seeking comfort in our bedroom. Finally, one night, her mother asked her if she had prayed for Jesus to take her fear away and help her fall asleep. "Oh, yes," she assured me. "He told me to come and get you!"

Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Verse 13 Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.

Sometimes we have to step out of our familiar home into a place were the people do not live as we live.

I was recently speaking to a young girl and she was telling me about an experience she had with a church youth group she is involved in. She told me that their church started a satellite church in Gary, Indiana and her youth group went there to hand out food baskets to homes in the neighborhood. These youths from Nappanee left the comfort and security of their neighborhood to experience something so different from their own lifestyle that it changed their understanding of the world. No longer do they watch the news and it seems like worlds away but now they see it and know it as truth. They know that there are people out there that have real needs and that they were a part of meeting those needs.

Recently, Followers of Faith answered a call for help when someone from Elkhart needed a wheelchair ramp. So, I asked Ang if she would go with me to visit the people who needed the ramp.

She said sure and as I took her closer and closer to the house. She began to get nervous and said that this wasn’t the greatest part of town. She said that there were many shootings here and asked me did I ever see it on the news.

I hadn’t. As we came into the neighborhood, we found that the street was dug up and we could not tell where the house was unless we parked the car and got out to look for it. The street was impassable.

Angie said something like, “Are you getting out of the car?” I told I had to or we weren’t going to know where the house was.” She said, “I am too afraid to get out of the car.” I said, “ Ok, Well, listen, I’ll get out and find the house and then I’ll come back and get you.” I said, “Lock the doors and do not open them to anyone.”

I got out found the block where the house was and found that we had to drive to another part of the neighborhood to reach the house and even then we had to get out and walk.

My point is that sometimes places that we think are scary aren’t as scary to the people that live there, this is their home.

I remember when I went back to my high school reunion, I spoke to a girl who lived in a neighborhood where there were gang wars going on. Aren’t you afraid to live in the neighborhood, I remember she answered, “Oh no, that happens on a couple of streets away from me.“

When I worked in the prison, I remember being cautious but never afraid. If I would have been afraid, I would not have been able to do the ministry that I was called there for. I would have stayed in my office and not spread God’s hospitality though out the prison.

Don’t be afraid, be aware and be cautious but do not be afraid. I believe you will know the real fear in places that God sets a red flag.

GOD’S PROVISION
A young woman brings home her fiancé to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. The father invites the fiancée to his study for a chat. "So what are your plans?" the father asks the young man. "I am a Bible college student." he replies.

"A Bible college student. Hmmm," the father says. "admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she's accustomed to?" "I will study," the young man replies, "and God will provide for us." "And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?" asks the father. "I will concentrate on my studies," the young man replies, "God will provide for us." "And children?" asks the father. "How will you support children?" "Don't worry, sir, God will provide," replies the fiance. The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions, the young idealist insists that God will provide. Later, the mother asks, "How did it go, Honey?" The father answers, "He has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I'm God."

But as she let herself be interrupted and she stepped through her fear even though she had nothing left to give, she gave to Elijah and God provided.

When we are sharing hospitality with the world, we do not have to have big funds and we don’t have to be worried how we will provide for the hospitality but all we need to have is a willingness to give. When God calls us out to spread our hospitality throughout the our neighborhoods, we get blessed.

Elijah promised her that her food would not run out. It lasted for many days.

As we minister to others, grace goes before us and we are ministered in the midst.

It may not be financially but it could come in so many ways. We open our hearts as the widow opened her house with hospitality and we are blessed.

The widow not only was blessed with food but Elijah saved her son from death.

CLOSING:
Listen to what she says at the end. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." 24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."

That is the most important part of the story. Let me tell you, People will not trust our God until they trust us. Let me repeat this, “People will not trust our God until they trust us.

It doesn’t matter how many scripture verse we read and how much we sing hymns to them and tell tem about church. They need to know that we are authentic. That we are who we say we are.

This is a wonderful lesson to learn. Let people see that your heart and your motives are real. Let them see that we come in love. We share our hospitality of love as we share it here.

Learn to let grace interrupt you, don’t let fears stop you and let your love of God show in your actions and watch the way God blesses you in the midst.

It is great to share our gift of hospitality when we are in our church or home and we are hosting our friends or church family.

As Mike McIntyre took to the highways to find kindness, we take to the highways to share it.

It is when we turn our church hospitality into a hospitality highway, that we experience the salvation grace of God as our widow did.