Hospitality(ish): The Curve Ball

It began as an ordinary Thursday.  The deep cleaning was done and Emily and I were going over things, talking about plans and projects for semester.

Dan came in around 10:00 and asked if I had 15 minutes to meet about the guest house, so I went over to his office and sat down with him and Casie.  We had a dilemma: more students were planning to come than we had beds for in the dorms.  Could one of the guest apartments provide a space to house people, at least for this semester?  It turned into a 45 minute meeting as we discussed every possible angle, hoping to avoid more upheaval than necessary.

He left to check on a few options.  I went back to my office to fill Emily in on the situation.  My head was spinning.  If the guest apartment had to be used, we would be losing a third of our capacity in the guest house, plus all the updates that we'd considered tackling this semester would have to be put on hold.  Dan popped in a number of times that morning, keeping us up to date on where things were at.

By the time lunch rolled around, we knew the guest house would be our only option.  Four interns would move in there, freeing up space in the dorms for our incoming students.

I had a registration project to help with at 1:30, but when that was done, Casie, Emily, and I met down at the guest house.  We went through the apartment, deciding what needed to be moved out and what could stay.  Twin bed frames and mattresses?  Leave for the interns.  Queen bed frame mattress?  Move to the basement.  Couch?  Leave.  Linens?  Move.  Dressers?  Leave.  TV, dining table and chairs, vacuum?  Leave.  Random stuff stored in closets in preparation for the renovations planned?  Move.

A group of guys came and helped us move things down to the basement and our tiny little supply room (which was then overflowing with stacks of blankets and sheets and such).  I went back to the office and called the guests that were planning to come for registration weekend.

"I'm so sorry, but we've had some last minute housing changes, and I've had to switch your reservation..."  Thankfully, although things are always full on registration weekend with families coming to drop off students, we had a very small window in one of the apartments for the night they needed.  It meant an extra clean to put on the schedule, but that was a small adjustment compared to what it could have been.

Still, at the end of the day, my head was reeling.  What would the next week look like?  How would this change the projects and budget requests we had been looking at for the semester?  "Help!  I don't know how to shift gears like this!"

I could see God's kindness, though.  We had a place for our guests.  We didn't have to turn students away because there wasn't room.  Because of the renovations originally planned, the room had been closed to bookings online for the entire semester, which meant we didn't have to cancel a bunch of reservations.

And truthfully, although I believe it's wise to have strategies, to make thoughtful goals for improving the guest house, I've lately sensed that God has wanted to grow me in another aspect of hospitality: flexibility.  Creativity.  Extending the spirit of welcome even when things aren't perfect or aren't going according to plan.

So...here we go!  Some of the changes I'd hoped to share with you this semester may not be happening quite yet, but I'm still looking forward to giving you updates on what we can do.