In that our home should be our base for ministry, hospitality becomes “the most natural means for sharing the gospel message.”  -Alexander Strauch

“How does one say ‘thank you’ in Chinese?” Craig asked the Chinese waiter.
“Xie xie,” smiled the young man.
“Xie xie?” he attempted.
“No, xie xie,” he said patiently.
“Xie xie,” the girls echoed. The waiter beamed!
From that moment on, a chorus of “xie xie” followed every movement he made towards our table. Thus began our friendship with Yang Tao.

It seems that wherever we have lived, we have chosen a restaurant or two as our “hang outs”, returning to them time and time again and in the process, getting to know the waiters and waitresses. We’re easy to remember: A party of 9—Mom and Dad, 5 kids, Nana and Grandpa—a wheelchair and a high chair. (Surprisingly, we are usually welcomed back???)

Anyway, that’s how we got to know Yang Tao. Soon he began to give little gifts to the children whenever we came in... Handkerchiefs embroidered with panda bears or the Great Wall of China, little dangling Chinese thing-a-ma-bobs, a piece of jade with engraving on it. Once when we came in, he disappeared for a few minutes and came back into the restaurant with M&Ms for the kids.

 Knowing that Chinese New Year’s is such a big celebration, we invited Yang Tao over for an American New Year’s Day. He arrived promptly, doling out little gifts for each child. We had a traditional Southern New Year’s meal of pork roast, mashed potatoes, greens and black-eyed peas. The girls asked him lots of questions about China, his family, and how he came to be here. A student at first, he was now only working and his return to China was imminent. We were amazed at his surprisingly broad knowledge of US History (His favorite president? Richard Nixon(!) and “that Bill Clinton, he been very good to us, too!”).

After dinner, Craig got out the Bible and explained that in our family, it is our habit at meal’s end to read together from the Scriptures—that we call it “family worship”. Yang Tao smiled and nodded eagerly.

I don’t remember exactly what we were reading at the time, but I do remember at the end, Yang Tao taking the Bible and fingering it. We told him he could keep it and take it back to China and he thanked us profusely.

He came over a few times after that... taught the girls some Chinese calligraphy and once, brought a “girlfriend”—a Chinese-American with whom he was “considering” marriage. Craig took the opportunity to share with them the Biblical concept of Christian marriage—a covenant before God—and not something to be entered into frivolously (or in hopes of remaining in America!)

And then he was gone.

About a year later we received a note from him, a New Year’s greeting: “...I always talking about you to my family...” he wrote. Hmmmm... I wonder what it was he was
“always talking about” ??? I pray that in our brief interactions, he experienced more than just a “cultural exchange” with an American family. I pray that he got a taste—as imperfect as it was—of God’s love for him, and that the Bible he took back continues to speak to his heart of the God who is there.

We never saw him again, but our friendship with Yang Tao encouraged us to reach out to others... You, too, can do this! Invite others in and just include them in what you’re already doing. That’s what we did with Yang Tao. We opened the Scriptures, took prayer requests and prayed for him.

Look around for those whom God has placed in your life, especially those who might have little or no interaction with believers. And you never know... hospitality just might be the conduit through which God chooses to reach into a heart with the gospel.

Romans 12:13
Practice!