Only a few weeks into the fall semester of 2015, God brought forth an incredible, yet frightening opportunity for my family — to host a male foreign exchange high school student from Germany. Being an only child, my initial fear was, “How on earth would I adjust to the unfamiliar life of having a brother, much less a 17-year-old boy who spoke broken English?"
After two weeks of family discussions and massive amounts of prayer, we decided to grab ahold of the opportunity and try it out. Mid-November he moved into our home and we set forth on the most impacting journey of my life.
Being several years younger than me, the first month or two was incredibly hard. I was not used to the ways of a high school boy, nor was I used to sharing my home with another “sibling.” There were days we would be drowning in awkward tension at the dinner table, but also days we’d spend our nights exploring the town, enjoying each other’s company.
As I look back to those first several weeks, I now understand that those awkward tensions and irritating days and nights taught be the biggest lesson I’ve yet to learn. Acceptance. Romans 15:7 tells us, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
The thing I feared most was not being able to accept that he was a part of our family and needed to be treated as such. I had no idea of what to expect or what to prepare myself for. I was going into the situation with only the trust in prayer and faith that God wouldn’t give us anything he didn’t think we could handle. However, the realization hit me during the eight months that he lived in our home that God sent him to us because he belonged in our family.
Our relationship grew to be so strong once I finally opened my heart and welcomed him, just as God has welcomed me. We spent so much time together that now I see him as my brother and could never look at him as anything else. But our time together was limited and as I waved goodbye to him at the airport I wondered how will I ever be able to adjust to the life I had before he arrived.
As I reflect back on the experience, I feel eternal grateful to have had the opportunity to grow as a person. Not only did I learn the lesson of acceptance, but I learned the importance of prayer and laying my fears and worries at God’s feet. Spending so much of my time with a foreigner taught me that the world consists of so many different people and cultures. The world is such a beautiful place and being given to see a glimpse of what else is beyond my hometown, the excitement of what God has for me has never been so strong.
