Last Thursday Matt and Dave, two young men visiting from Kansas City, called Radical Living to see if they could visit us. They talked with my wife, Vonetta, and she invited them to our Thursday night book club. They walked from Manhattan, over the Williamsburg Bridge, and arrived early to share their story with us.
The two men are recent college grads and are currently being discipled by an elder Christian brother. As part of their discipleship they came to NYC with nothing more than a round-trip bus ticket. They came to serve others while also depending on God to provide for them. They spent most of their time at the Bowery Mission where they served and fellowshipped with homeless men. I gave them a tour of the Hart Street House and when I showed them the hospitality room I asked where they were staying. They said they were hoping to stay with us.
When the book club started they mentioned that they both had read our current book, Irresistible Revolution. It was a great meeting. There were several people from Radical Living, including our newest member Matthew who arrived last Saturday from Kansas, and Sarah, a friend from the neighborhood.
It was after 10 p.m. when the meeting ended. Everyone split. Matt and Dave went to bed in the hospitality room. In the morning we had our Friday morning prayer meeting from 6:45 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. Matt and Dave, beat from walking the streets of NYC, decided to sleep in. After the prayer meeting they woke up and my wife gave the young disciples oatmeal. After breakfast they left the house to walk back to Manhattan. This time they said they would walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.
It was an encouragement and a blessing to host these two Christ-followers. The verse that has stuck with me is Hebrews 13:2:
“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”
