A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network Blog

Sometimes "Hospitality" starts with those closest to us in our own homes... (from last Christmas)

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 01:44:29 GMT

"Does a middle class life in North America add up to more than a hill of beans? Do you get on planes to bless the materially blessed with more of the Words of God and call it the great commission? Or do you stay at home and sort the socks from the underwear and pray for revival and give to missions month and train them up in the godly way they should go and referee mindless bickering while begging God to somehow multiply your life into more than a few flailing, gasping fish. You’ve only got one...

Have I read enough chapters out loud to them all piled close or read too many facebook status updates from people I didn’t even really know twenty years ago? Have I laughed at enough obnoxious knock-knock jokes or been too busy walking through doors to somewhere else? Or have I played enough rousing games of monopoly, tickled into the dark, listened with every chamber of my selfish heart? Will Levi and his brothers" (or Nicholson) "someday be standing in ties to give eulogies that I was a mother who plucked straight out of the pulsing best of her to make them into balding, blessed men?

It’s only your own sacrifices that show up at your funeral.

Am I making any of the right ones?" (from Ann Voskamp's A Holy Experience.com)

Today, in the crazy business of your life and the holidays, take a moment to read and pray through this...

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/11/how-to-not-miss-your-real-life-calling/

Sometimes "hospitality" starts with those closest to us in our own homes.

May the peace of the season be reflected in our lives.

Merry Christmas 2012,
The Bowen Family
A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network
www.acandleinthewindow.com

Soli Deo Gloria!

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:27:56 GMT

One year ago, in September 2011, we launched A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network with just "1" member... our family! We knew the hardest part would be at the beginning... convincing people to join a "network" with only one or two locations; but that's where you came in... and you and You and YOU!!!

Just one year later, we have more than 200 households in all but a handful of states and 32 foreign countries. As we read the emails from folks who have been blessed through many of YOU, it is humbling to watch as our vision is being realized. Soli Deo Gloria!!! Homes are opening, bread is broken and God is glorified through the simple offering up of your lives through hospitality.

During this first year, we have invested thousands of hours, thousands of miles and thousands of dollars in our efforts to "get the word out" about A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network; but we cannot keep that up on our own. Our greatest referrals have been you, the members and friends of A Candle in the Window. Thank you!

And PLEASE CONTINUE !!! This is only the beginning... our prayer is for thousands and thousands of homes around the world each reflecting their creator in their own unique way; but we know that this can only be accomplished through God's working and not our own meager efforts.

Despite our many differences, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are "one". Be gracious when your hosts or guests do things a little differently than you do... Consider hospitality, especially to strangers, to be a little "taste of heaven" where we will join with the throngs from every tribe and nation throughout the ages. Each unique. All one... IN CHRIST ALONE.

Now, "May the God of peace, who raised up from the dead, through the blood of the Eternal Covenant, that Great Shepherd of the Sheep, even Jesus Christ our Lord, EQUIP YOU with every good thing for doing His will and WORK IN YOU that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be the glory forever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21

The Many Faces of Hospitality (with Videos below!)

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:02:00 GMT

We have some good friends that have chosen, for the better part of the last decade, to live in a very harsh place—one of the harshest on the planet, both physically and spiritually.

They went there hoping to see a church planted among a remote and unreached people. But it has been hard, REALLY HARD, harder than they could have imagined and costly in many ways… but they have persevered…

They have “lived the gospel”… offering simple “cups of cold water”; rubbing lotion into leathered hands and feet, and drops into long sun damaged eyes… They gave of themselves and graciously and received the hospitality they were offered in exchange…

And they are loved… even “adopted” into indigenous families, not because of their sparkling personalities, nor their great education or their being “Americans”… but because they opened their hearts, their home and their lives to those they believed God had engineered into their path.

John Piper has rightly said, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of your living room as a launching pad for new life, and hope, and ministry and missions.”

I would agree. Don’t wait until you can seat 25 people with matching table settings before opening your homes and lives to others… and while A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network exists to be a blessing among Christian households, never forget that each of our homes is a “little embassy” as it were… an outpost of the Kingdom wherever we are. There are many “faces of hospitality”… opening your homes might mean “opening your homes”, but it can also mean opening your front porch, your backyard, your campfire, your local park’s picnic table, or a corner in a local restaurant… It might mean packing a basket and heading out for your neighbor’s home or campfire, and receiving that which is offered with thankfulness and grace. Biblical hospitality can happen in any place that allows you to open your heart and lives to others. And through these simple acts, God chooses to draw us closer to one another and to Himself.

Please take a few moments to watch the videos below. They chronicle the last decade of our friends’ lives and illustrate the power of God to work in broken vessels that are offered up to Him, even as He can work in our own!

1. "Our Dream" - Why They Went
2. "This is How I Love You" - Everyday Life
3. "Never Once" - God's Continual Presence

(For the safety of the nationals on the field, please DO NOT DOWNLOAD or show these videos to groups without the express written permission of A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network’s administrator) Enjoy!

Amazing Opportunities - United by the Gospel

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:38:01 GMT

A CANDLE IN THE WINDOW HOSPITALITY NETWORK
A Network of Christian Households Delighting in Hospitality
Amazing Opportunities/United by the Gospel
April 2012 Greetings!

Recently we logged onto A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network (www.acandleinthewindow.com) and began reading through some of our member's profiles. And although our network is young, we already have some amazing opportunities!!! Whether you enjoy historical sites or contemporary museums, country or city life, the ocean or the mountains, sports or shopping, we have some great locations for you! The following items were taken straight from our member's profiles:

Stay In: A cozy, Dutch home built in the late 1800s; American farmhouses from about the same time; a log cabin in an English garden; a Barn (!), tour Old Paths Farm and then spend the night in the barn; a Christian retreat center in the Colorado mountains; or a former elementary school... or just plain old homes like ours where you will be warmly welcomed in the name of Christ!

History: Visit Jamestown; Yorktown; Williamsburg; Washington, DC; Gettysburg; Pennsylvania Amish country; Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts; or visit even older cities and enjoy the Old World charm of Bavaria, Germany; Berne, Switzerland; the Yorkshire countryside of England; take a walking tour with your hosts in the Netherlands; or a 40 minute train ride into the south of France; visit the Gateway to Western China and the Silk Road of the Tibetan Plateau; or to get even more historic, visit the Negev in Israel, where Abraham sojourned...

Nature/Creation: For those more drawn to the outdoors, hike the Appalachian, the Colorado Rockies or the Alps; Visit Yellowstone; hike Pike's Peak; view a NY waterfall higher than Niagra Falls; and take in the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Enjoy lots of waterways (beaches, lakes and rivers) and many possibilities for water sports (sailing, jet skis, canoeing, and swimming) and if you prefer "frozen water sports", ice skating and snow skiing in quaint alpine towns...

Activities: Weather permitting, the possibility of going up in a private plane; take in a show at Branson; 6 Flags; the Mall of America; visit Focus on the Family, the US Air Force Academy, or the US Olympic Training Facility; take in a Broncos game... Tebow won't be there--but wait--we have members in New York (and New Jersey, where the New York Jets play?! Go figure); go fishing; straddle 2 hemispheres at the Equator Monument; star gaze at the world's oldest functioning planetarium; or visit a World War II Museum in the Netherlands...

City Life & Country Life: Visit New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Istanbul, London, Berne or Helsinki...
In addition, we have many members who live down country roads in the middle of nowhere... where your children can run free in cornfields, catch lightning bugs, listen to the crickets sing and enjoy the peacefulness of a country evening beneath the stars unencumbered by city lights. Country critters mentioned include: dogs and cats, bunnies and bees, ducks and chickens, cows and horses, pigs and even turkeys!

Enjoy and Join In: Some of our members invite you to enjoy organic (often homegrown) food and fresh baked, homemade bread (yum!). Others invite you to join them for family devotions, games, music making or visiting their church...

Such varied locations... each unique.

Likewise, our member's households will vary greatly, each reflecting their creator in their own unique way. Some describe themselves as "quiet and contemplative"; others "lively" or "musical"... Some are older, retired with "empty nests"; others are large families in the throes of their child rearing years; some single ladies and gentlemen... Some are city slickers, while others live off unpaved roads (and nothing says "country" quite like the sound of a gravel road and wide open car windows:) Some live in world class cities, others in third world countries; some belong to mega, Mega churches and others prefer smaller congregations, or family integrated fellowships, while still others gather in small, intimate groups in far flung nations...

But Ephesians 4:3-5 exhorts and reminds us: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace. There is one body and one spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Despite our many differences, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are "one". Be gracious when your hosts or guests do things a little differently than you do... Consider hospitality, especially to strangers, to be a little "taste of heaven" where we will join with the throngs from every tribe and nation throughout the ages. Each unique. All one... IN CHRIST ALONE.

Again, word of mouth is our greatest advertisement! Please forward this email or our link (www.acandleinthewindow.com) to your friends and family... your church newsletter, your unique groups and networks or your Facebook page. We much desire to add lots more great locations, especially before summertime travels begin. Thanks again for opening your homes to one another!

Alongside you in Christ, our Lord,
The Bowen Family
www.acandleinthewindow.com

Christ, Our Passover Lamb

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:45:27 GMT

              "... For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed."
                                        1 Corinthians 5:7

As we look forward to this coming Easter Sunday, no doubt many of us plan a special celebration of Christ's resurrection, whether with our own household, or extended family and friends.

In addition, we would like to share what has become a precious tradition in our own family: Passover on Thursday evening. As Christians, we didn't grow up celebrating Passover, but when I (Theresa) was in my 20s, I had the opportunity to study in Israel. Part of that study included participating in a "1st Century Passover" patterned after what Jesus and his disciples would have been celebrating the Thursday evening before his crucifixion (what we refer to as the "Last Supper"). For believers, Passover is a beautiful picture of Christ, the true Passover lamb... a divinely designed evening to pass on the truths of atonement and redemption from generation to generation... and a foreshadowing of what happened on the cross.

Over the years, we have included Scripture readings/video/music and song/responsive readings/narratives and 1st century foods and customs. We would be happy to share our outlines/ideas with you (send requests to info@acandleinthewindow.com with Passover in memo line) but be creative! Use the age old memorial, relate it to the cross, but make it your own family tradition!

"When Christ appeared as a high priest... he entered the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:11-12

February 2012 Update

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:59:10 GMT

February 2012 Update

"We had a wonderful time with the L family. As a result, I'm thinking of how to organize a Christian Film Camp here next year."
(Tracy, Surrey, England)

Receiving emails like this brings smiles to our faces and encouragement to our hearts... to see A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network functioning--independent of us--bringing people together for His purposes.

Or to hear that 4 year olds are praying for "guests": "Three months had passed and the little ones began to lament that we 'have no candles in the window coming'. Once again, we began to pray and there in our inbox was another request. God answered 'Yes!' to the prayers of our little ones and to our prayers." (Debbie, New Mexico)

If you have not done so lately, log onto the website (www.acandleinthewindow.com) and check out all the locations. And while you are there, please complete your profile. You only filled out a portion of it when you joined. And be sure to include your membership number when sending a request. One of our hosts found herself trying to determine who was requesting by process of elimination. She writes, "As I was trying to sort through this by process of elimination, I came across many profiles that aren't completed. Could you please push for this info to be filled in. It would be so very helpful for ALL of us, those hosting and those requesting to be hosted." It is especially helpful to know how many there are in a household when considering logistics, so finish your profiles and work on getting a reference letter to us. (If you need more info, see Feedback/Reference on our homepage)

Word is steadily getting out... We will be sharing our heart and vision for A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network as panelists at the Family Economics Conference 2012 (www.FamilyEconomics2012.com) on March 8-10 at Wheaton College. Continue to help us spread the word: share our link (www.acandleinthewindow.com) with your family and friends, post it to your website or facebook.

And thank you again for opening your hearts and homes to one another. Without each of you, there would be no Candle in the Window Hospitality Network! Thank you

Blessings,
The Bowen Family
www.acandleinthewindow.com

Radical Hospitality... to Minister to Orphans and Widows in their Distress (with Video below!)

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:43:59 GMT

I went to a wedding the other day...

Not just your average, run of the mill, beautiful wedding. It was at a stable... a horse stable. And it was quite possibly the most special wedding that I've ever attended.

You see, Rachel was getting married. And to fully appreciate the day, I have to tell you a story...

Rachel is a special person. She spent the last year and a half of her life hidden away in Africa. She and her friend Mandie had gone there, or so they thought, to help establish a medical clinic. As teams of doctors from the States would come and go, Rachel and Mandie were the constant. They had committed a year of their lives to overseeing the clinic, stocking the pharmacy, training the staff... all the things that nurses are trained to do. Meet physical needs in hopes of tending spiritual needs.

They had hardly been there any time at all when...

"You might want to check on those newborns in the clinic," commented a rotating doctor on his way out of the country.

So they did.
And all of their lives were changed forever.

They arrived at the clinic to find the babies too weak to cry, lying in a puddle of their own waste. It's not that their mother didn't care, but she was dying herself.

So they did something radical.

They took them home. Home.

And they became their mothers. They simply did what God had, before the foundations of the world, designed them to do:

They loved. They nurtured. They gave life.

And we got to be a part of the journey... Rachel had started a blog before leaving for Africa... In her Small Ripples, Rachel poured out her heart to God and to many of us. It became a lifeline when it seemed like one or the other of the babies wouldn't make it or hadn't slept, or ran a fever... or the girls hadn't slept or ran a fever...

But they all survived.
And with love, and prayer, and medicene, the twins began to thrive.

Rachel loved those babies like her own.

She considered adopting them; but knew in her heart that it would be best if the twins had a mommy and a daddy. So she and Mandie began to pray for families for the twins as well as the other infants and children that began to stream into their strapped little family. And somehow God engineered those "littles" into the hearts and home of a loving family on the other side of the planet.

More radical hospitality.

...but getting back to the wedding. You see, unbeknownst to Rachel, a certain young man had begun to read her blog...the brother of a dear friend from college.

And what he saw in those few words... was Jesus. And he fell in love.

Long story, short: They got married last week in a stable.

And guess who were the ring bearer and flower girl?

For this is true religion, "to look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27)

Radical Hospitality.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/rLN5fYhK6po

ROMANS 12:13 Practice!

Theresa Bowen

"Best Idea of 2011" (Kevin Swanson, Generations with Vision Radio, Oct 24, 2011)

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:00:17 GMT

We call this the “Best Idea of 2011”!

(Kevin Swanson, Generations with Vision Radio Broadcast, October 24, 2011)

Hello everyone!

We were interviewed recently on Kevin Swanson’s Generations with Vision Radio Broadcast. Kevin encouraged us by proclaiming A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network the “best idea he had heard all year”… Welcome to members from Japan, Singapore, Chicago, Maryland, and Tennessee who heard us on his program!!!

Click here to hear the interview:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=1024111419145

We are growing!!!
Continue to share A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network with your friends and family!!!

Blessings,
The Bowen Family
A Candle in the Window Hospitality Network
www.acandleinthewindow.com

Exposing our Children to Heroes:The Multigenerational Impact of Biblical Hospitality

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:36:49 GMT

“Getting to know, love and respect Bob and Keitha Wittig.”

Jim Elliot
(from The Journals of Jim Elliot, June 30, 1952)

Our family, too, has come to “know, respect and love Keitha Wittig”, “Miss Keitha” as we call her. Tall, stylish and near 90, Miss Keitha, a retired missionary to Ecuador, is a faithful member of our church. We had heard “bits and snippets” of her life story... some connection to the young missionaries martyred by the Auca Indians in the 1950s… involvement with HCJB Christian radio… and a frequent reference to her late husband’s relocating a power plant from Washington state to Quito, Ecuador (How does one do that ?!!) So we called her up and invited her to dinner. When extending the invitation, I specifically asked if she would share with our children the story of God’s faithfulness in her life.

After dinner, we all gathered in the family room with a roaring fire and watched Through the Gates of Splendor, a documentary narrated by Elisabeth Elliot that chronicled the martyrdom of five American missionaries by the savage Auca Indians of Equador, and the subsequent conversion of some of them to Christ.

Miss Keitha watched with rapt attention: “That’s my kitchen... There, that was our home! Jim courted Elizabeth there at my kitchen table…” You see, her husband, a missionary pilot had served the same mission station as Nate Saint, who was home on furlough in ’52:

“It fell to my husband to welcome the young missionaries to the jungle,” she explained. “He became a sort of ‘father figure’ to them. When we heard of their murder, we were back in the states on furlough. We couldn’t believe it. ‘Lord’, I prayed, ‘Why would you take those young men... the brightest and the best...leaving all those young children???’”

As she talked her voice trailed off and her gaze seemed distant, as if reliving the events of a half century before… Needless to say, our children were spellbound. They had heard the stories of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the others, but Miss Keitha was right there at their table and she had known them and even questioned their deaths!

“But after all these years,” she continued, “and after seeing so many of the ways that God has used the deaths of those young men to further his will, I trust Him more.”

Selah. It was a wonderful evening.

Looking back, I believe the evening was a blessing to Miss Keitha as well. Her eyes sparkled as she proudly recounted the story of her late husband finding an abandoned power plant while home in the states on furlough, of getting it donated, disassembling it, shipping it to Ecuador and reassembling it there where it was gratefully put to use. It also built a bond between her and our family having her in our home. She often asks us how we are doing and tells us she’s thinking of us.

There are many people in our lives and churches with stories to tell. These are the testimonies I want my children to hear... The testimonies of those who have lived long and struggled and in the end concluded, “I trust Him more.”

And these are the testimonies your children will grow up with when you intentionally invite godly men and women into your home and ask them to share their stories. Why, we attend a small church and yet, we have had the opportunity, over and over again, to hear of God’s faithfulness.

I join the Rev Stephen Olford in praising “God for the enrichment that came through … godly men and women who passed through our home…”

Romans 12:13

Practice!

Theresa Bowen

The Blessings of Providing a Place for Christian Workers/Don’t Wait for Things to be “Perfect”

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:40:55 GMT

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I really want to practice hospitality, and I will, too, just as soon as our children are older...”? Have you ever considered that God might want to use your family now… not in spite of your children, but because of your children?

Consider Julius and Mr. Dhlamini.

“I was a very bad shepherd.”

Across the table, I could almost read my children’s minds through their wide-eyed expressions... “Wow! A real, live shepherd, from Africa (!) at our very own table!!!” The girls, quite young at the time, hung on Julius’ every word. He explained that as a young boy he had become distracted while watching the family’s flock and, more than once, lost track of the animals. As a resulting “punishment”, his father had taken away the privilege of shepherding and, horrors, sent him to school! At school he heard the gospel and became one of the very first of his tribe to come to Christ. By the time we met Julius, he had completed college in Nairobi, as well as Bible College and Seminary in North America and was a fruitful church planter. Despite his advanced degrees, and the many doors open to him in East Africa as a result, Julius had returned to the “bush” where he trained itinerant pastors who, in turn, carried the gospel to the “least of the least” in “remote enclaves known to few and visited by even fewer”. Every few years he came to the States to raise awareness for his people and garner support. Through our church, we became Julius’ “home away from home” one of the times when he traveled through our area.

We soon learned that Julius’ children were the light of his life and he missed them sorely, and not only did he not mind our little children asking questions and sitting beside him, he seemed to love it! Just by being little children, our girls met a deep need in this loving father’s heart.

Over the years as our older children became teenagers, they have continued to look forward to any visits from Julius and have kept up with his ministry. They have learned, firsthand through him, the devastating effects of drought and famine, of disease and abandonment… but also of the transforming power of the gospel on a resistant animistic and forgotten tribe. They have sent their beanie babies and sold candy bars to raise money for a well rig or the orphanage. And we have collected mementos as well...burned out gourds decorated with beads used to carry goat’s milk, the sitting/sleeping stool (a prized possession of every bushman) and sandals made from old tires...each a tangible reminder of Julius and the people he loves.

And then there was Mr. Dhlamini, a pastor from South Africa who was studying for some time in the States. We only met him that once when he stayed with us, but two things stand out in my mind from that visit...

The first has to do with sweet potatoes. I was running late, you see, and rushed into Bi-Lo to pick up something for dinner. There in the deli were these tubs of mashed sweet potatoes. Now I’ll have to tell you that never before, and never since have I purchased mashed sweet potatoes, but they looked nice and hot so I popped them in the cart and was on my way... Well, I’ll never forget Mr. Dhlamini’s face that night at dinner.

“How did you know?” he asked, staring at the mashed potatoes. “This food was a staple in my home and my mother used to prepare it for me.” Of course, I hadn’t known... but God had... and I was humbled to realize how God can even use us unknowingly to bless his servants with a favorite dish from home.

The other thing I remember is that, like Julius, Mr. Dhlamini had left little children at home and was missing them terribly. I have a beautiful memory of him telling us about his children and then sitting quietly, holding our one-year-old Laina, his lean charcoal cheek snuggled up against her pudgy baby face...

As a mom, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the spilled milk and the less than perfect manners and the discipline issues that invariably arise during the course of a day... but then I am reminded that Christ, Himself, used a little child in teaching on the kingdom of heaven.

Our children have been greatly blessed to grow up with “company”. Don’t wait until everything is “perfect”...go ahead and include your children in hospitality today. I was greatly encouraged in this when my children were young and Julius, upon leaving, wrote, “I could have stayed with you forever...” Forever??? Despite all the messes and mayhem???

Or perhaps... because of them.

Romans 12:13

Practice!

Theresa Bowen