The Gift of Hospitality

We made it! After a flight to Minneapolis and then a 9 ish hour flight across the pond, we arrived in Rome! The girls did GREAT! Having grandparents on board taking turns on who was being napped upon, was extremely helpful for the girls’ success.

But besides sharing that we made it safely, I wanted to note the gift of hospitality. When we arrived in the bustling Rome airport and came around the corner for customs and passport check, it was packed. But one of the airport workers noticed our strollers and directed us around the serpentine down to the blue “citizens” lane. This line had a couple people waiting versus the couple hundred folks in the regular queue. But, it wasn’t just the one employee! Along the way we kept thinking this was too good to be true, and would move into the “regular” next layer of line, only to have another employee wave us over and claim us as their “own” (in the citizen line) and circumvent more crowd. What a gift!

Then upon arriving at the hotel, there were four employees that seemed to be waiting just for us. “Denning family?!? Welcome! Your rooms are all ready. Let us carry your bags to the room!” What a blessing for weary travelers!

Generous hospitality makes a significant difference, doesn’t it? Weather it be unexpected travel blessings, worshiping in a new space, or hosting/being hosted for dinner. No wonder hospitality and receiving guests comes up so often biblically!

Thank you for your prayers, the Europe adventure has begun!