Deb and I got to talking to one couple who had seven children who were really refreshing to talk to. In talking about God's provision and trusting in Providence, the wife mentioned that they were hosting international students in their home and it has been a really good experience. It helps them financially, but also affords them the opportunity to be witnesses to the Gospel to those who may not have ever heard it before. Ironically, the students come from the English language center at the university where I work, and I know the contacts there. I had even gotten the email about a year ago saying they were in need of host families and thought "Hm," but it wasn't the right time for us.
It was a funny 'coincidence' to be talking about it with this couple now, though we know there's no such thing as coincidence when you see with eyes of faith. Deb and I had been feeling called to exercise hospitality in our lives, as we have been blessed with a house that makes this possible. We had hosted families from out of town whose children had medical conditions a couple years ago in one of our spare bedrooms, but after Deb's mom died and the birth of our third, we had to take a break from it for a while.
I had met a Christian rep at a completely secular international conference I was attending for work last year who was from an organization that ministered to Christian international students, so I had been thinking about this for a while. We also had a substantial drop in income when Deb cut way back on her hours in order to make the decision to homeschool feasible, and are trusting God with our finances more than we ever have before. I have been writing and copyediting on the side to try to bring in some extra money and selling things on Craigslist. Of course the 'rent' money would be nice. But what has me more interested is the opportunity to be witnesses to the Faith--just by virtue of living our everyday lives, which is all we really have time for--in something called "real life."
I have been having my doubts about social media as an effective platform for evangelization, seeing it more as a way to connect and be fortified in the faith by other like-minded people. But we can't stay in comfortable homogenous social media world sharing articles and liking things forever; at some point we have to go out to proclaim the Good News. Christ said make disciples of all nations. Interesting.
But 'real life' does not always afford us the opportunity to be as blunt and forward as we may be while in social media mode. This has been on my mind as well. Moral issues may be objective, but there is nuance in approach that needs to be kept in mind, as well as cultural considerations, when witnessing in real time. I was reminded of this in reading a little bit tonight about sharing the Gospel with and witnessing to Muslims.
The family we were speaking to at the picnic hosted a Japanese student who had absolutely no exposure to Christianity and who wanted to learn about it; a Muslim student from Saudi Arabia who would ask questions and soak up everything the husband shared with him into the night; a Russian student who likewise became a Christian, I believe. After evangelizing on the streets last week and encountering the frustratingly countless numbers of Catholics and those who had been exposed to Christianity who had no interest in going deeper in the faith, the thought of our family being "home-bound missionaries" to young college students to whom Christianity is a foreign concept....well, it felt like the Holy Spirit presenting us with a possible opportunity.
Our family may not be able to go to a foreign land as missionaries at this point in our life--but maybe we can bring the 'foreign land' to us and practice the words of Cardinal Emmanuel Célestin Suhard: "To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God did not exist.”
Please pray for us as we discern this opportunity.
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