Below is a photo of a manger scene here in San Julian. Note that the manger is empty. The tradition here is that they do not put the baby Jesus in it until Christmas when he arrived in human form.
This got me to thinking - What If?
What if Jesus never came? What if God allowed us to justly suffer the penalty for our sins? What if the personification of pure, genuine love never came to live with us? What if there were no people transformed by that love? What if there were no transformed people that cared for the sick, the poor, the orphans, the unloved? What if there were no transformed people to defend the defenseless?
What if there was no good news? What if there was no hope? What if there was no peace? What if there was no joy? What if there was no love?
What If?
Recently I was invited to lunch at the home of a friend in a fairly rural area. The home sits on a road outside of the nearest town by a couple of miles and stands in the midst of a "jungle" in the mountains. The people of El Salvador have such a heightened sense of hospitality that I just had to share this with you.
While visiting, I made an observation about the coconuts growing nearby. The next thing I knew, one of the people there was climbing the tree to cut down the coconuts so that I cold have a drink of coconut milk. He then proceeded to cut open enough of them with his trusty machete (the all purpose tool here) to send me home with a gallon of coconut juice.
But it didn't end there. While being served roasted peppers (mmm...delicious) I was asked if I would like a slice of lime with it. This is very common here and is served with most meals so I thought little of it. I responded politely and asked for a slice. He asked his wife for limons (Spanish for lime) and was told they were all out. Without missing a step or saying another word he simply grabbed his machete and headed out into the jungle. About 15 minutes later he comes back with a bag of limons.
The lessons?
#1. Be careful what you ask for here...you will probably get it. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had said I liked milk. Oh, wait. I did see a goat nearby!
#2. These people take hospitality to a whole new level. They take the words of I Peter 4:9 seriously: "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."
