Monday I received a text message from an old friend, Larry, who is a Navigator at Wright Patterson Air Force base near Dayton, OH (He’s the one on the far left in the photo). He said he was going to stop by and see my young daughter Anna and maybe grab dinner on his way back from Atlanta. Well… what would have taken him  45 minutes, turned into 2.5 hours Odyssey throughout the backwoods of Kentucky in a thunderstorm. Larry survived and ended up spending the night.

There is something about returning to old friendships that awakes the sleeping parts of souls to the our present memories. Hospitality allows us to invite old friends not only into our houses, but into our lives again . Like the Old Testament Prophets calling ancient Israel to remember the Exodus, old friends have a way of prophetically calling us back to remember our past accomplishments, desires, spiritual growth and gifts, and zeal to serve the Lord.