Extending a Warm Invitation

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew11:28

Robbie checked the weather on his smartphone and his heart sank. At nineteen, he was an employee for a local hotel and he dreaded seeing the low nightly temperatures. The hotel where he worked was in a downtown area that had a large population of the homeless.

He’d made friends with Austin, a military veteran who had spent the past few months sleeping on park benches. “Life just kind of fell apart all at once and I couldn’t put back together,” he had explained.

When he clocked in to work that night, Robbie checked the logs and several of the rooms would be open for the evening. He gathered his courage and hurried to his manager’s office before he could talk himself out of it.

Robbie opened the door when the older man barked permission. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, “Record cold temperatures are expected tonight.”

The manager kept playing a game on his smartphone, “I have a weather app, too. Spit it out.”

“Well, I checked the log and we have more than a few empty rooms. I—can I book them in my name? You can take it out of my paycheck.”

Robbie’s manager stopped the game and leaned back in his chair. “Are you havin’ a family reunion in the middle of this mess?”

Robbie shook his head, “I know a couple of guys. They don’t have any place to go.” He flushed, “Jesus was homeless once.”

The manager considered his request for a minute before finally blowing out a breath. “Keep it quiet, kid, and don’t get me in trouble.”

Robbie was almost to the door when his manager called out, “Oh, and put me down for half of the rooms.”

God, help me to be invitational when it comes to others. Show me how to be a blessing to someone else this week. In Jesus’ name, Amen.