The Day I was Loved by Strangers

It happened when I was in Namibia last summer after we had travelled for a while. My luggage never arrived. So, while I was loving every moment of the trip and had been learning a ton, I was tired of travelling and sharing clothes and was ready to find home. I didn't neccesarily want to be back in Nashville or Texas. I just wanted that feeling of home. That feeling of falling into a couch, putting my feet up, and feeling free to let it all go and rest. Not for a long time, just a moment of that rest.

But, thats not what I was feeling then. Instead I was feeling more anxious and I was preparing to have to be "on" for a while. We had just arrived in the northern rural areas of Namibia. We were splitting off into pairs and were going to stay with a family for a few days. Two by two the other pairs were meeting their families and leaving with them. Finally it was just my partner and I and one other pair left. The longer we waited the more anxious I became. But then a woman arrived. I introduced myself reaching my hand out. She threw her arms around me and said in broken English, "my daughter, I am so glad you are here"


That is what it was like the entire time. The whole family treated me as a long lost daughter and sister. I found home in a rural village in northern Namibia.

All of the families were like this. One family even slaughtered their fatted calf and had a party for the pair from our group who was staying with them. Im serious....It was amazing. Later when we were discussing the radical hospitality we experienced our guide who helped choose the families said,"they loved you before they ever met you"

They loved me before they ever knew me.

I have had the same experience since I have arrived at St. Andrew Christian Church. I had barely pulled in the drive and there were people from the church here to help me move in. My first sunday was filled with hugs and joy. The next day I arrived at the church only to find it filled with posters with pictures of my disciples house family and me which read, "welcome allison, we hope you find home here like you did in Nashville" The next day I recieved an email asking what I might want because the church was throwing a party for me. The staff calls and emails regularly to see how I am doing, invite me places, and tell me how excited they are that i am here. They don't even know me yet.

They loved me before they ever knew me.

I wonder what it might be like if we all tried to practice this radical hospitality. If we all tried to love people before we even know them. A minister in Nashville who works with the homeless once told me that the problem is that we try so hard to be our sister's keeper that we forget that we are our sister's sister. What would it be like if we saw the homeless person on our street as our brother. If Americans first saw Iraqis as our siblings. If we looked at those we encounter in our lives...throw our arms around them....say, "my sister" and then try to create home for them. If we love them before we even know them. Being on the recieving end i have realized it is a powerful love....now i just have to figure out how to share it.