I remember the first time my husband had him over for coffee, maybe a week or two after he showed up at our Sunday fellowship. We found out that a coworker in the city where he had done his PhD had often invited him to events where the Bible was discussed. While completing his doctoral work, he began to think that the faith he had previously mocked had some substance to it. When taking a post-doctoral position meant he needed to move to our city, his coworker directed him to our fellowship. I think he would say that he was not yet a follower of Jesus when he arrived in our city. But he was curious and close.

We knew he was transient, but we befriended him anyway. We shared our table with him, over and over. He graciously ate anything we served him, and visited with anyone whom we placed at the table with him. We celebrated milestones and grieved losses together. We met each others’ parents when they came to town, and got to know each others' coworkers. We watched him declare his desire to follow Jesus by being baptized, grow in his understanding of the Bible, and develop friendships with Jesus followers of all different ages and walks of life.

Two autumns ago, we started a weekly gathering with him to eat, read the Bible, and pray. Some weeks we ate supper with 10 people, and some weeks we ate just with him. But if he was in town, he was at our table on Thursday night…even last night, before he flew out to his new job in a new country this morning.

Last night he emptied all the leftovers from his kitchen into mine. In my freezer are his leftover strawberries, in my fridge his German sausages, and on my counter his butter in his butter dish. There’s a tote bag in the corner which I think contains his vinegar, oil and salt.

He even left his umbrella in our umbrella holder, and said “I hope it’s not raining on the way home, so I can leave this here.” Standing in our narrow hallway last night, saying goodbye, my heart squeezed. Why do we do this? Why do we love when we know the people we love will leave?

The scripture that comes to mind whenever I think about this is from John 13:1. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” He calls us to love and to love to the end. Christians are taught to “love one another deeply as brothers and sisters” (Romans 12:10). From the way our hearts were squeezed last night, I knew we had loved our international friend like the brother that he is. And it was only right to love him “until the end”.