Wife and I returned home from a trip at 8:30pm. She unlocked the door to our apartment, pushed it open, and was immediately greeted by a dozen fleas jumping on her leg! Yes, I said fleas. No, we don’t have any pets. Nor did we have many neighbors at the time. It was weird and unexpected, but our home was infested with fleas.

Despite just arriving, we turned right back around and locked the door. Time to figure out a bed for the night!

We were overdue for a meal, so we went out for pizza to strategize.

After calling our landlord to ask him to take care of the problem, wife and I chatted about our options. We could find a hotel for a night or two — especially since we were still packed.

But that would have been a poor decision. Read on.

Instead, we pulled up a list of all our local friends. Guess what we discovered? There were nearly twenty families nearby who would gladly let us stay with them at a moment’s notice.

Whoa.

Wife said, “Who should we call?” Valid question — we could have started anywhere on that list!

What a wonderful problem to have.

Starting nowhere in particular, we called several numbers and left messages until someone answered, “Absolutely! Come right over.” Later, the husband joked, “You should have called us first!”

The families we left messages for called us back the next day and made sure we had a place to stay. They invited us to stay with them. Later, when we saw our church’s pastor and his wife, he said, “You should have called — we would have been glad to have you guys.” Honestly, it felt like our friends were fighting over the privilege of taking us in when we needed a bed for the night!

Again, what a problem.

If we had chosen to go to a hotel, we would have robbed our friends of the opportunity to give us a wonderful gift. The gift giver benefits even more than the receiver. I am finally beginning to understand how important it is to receive a gift well, for the sake of the giver!

If we hadn’t asked, our friends wouldn’t have been able to help out. And suddenly, I was glad we had fleas — for our friends’ sake!

Again, whoa.

But you know what? We didn’t need to have fleas to sleepover with friends. It would also be great to call on friends during good times as well, allowing others the opportunity to be blessed by giving.

Noted.