Recently I decided to change my home into an Airbnb location. My house is perfect for renting out rooms. All of my guest rooms are on the second floor.

The city I live in has ordinances regarding this. I can only rent to people who stay for longer than thirty days. In other words, corporate clients.

I had posted on Craigslist first, but every time I mentioned that I would be doing a full scale background check I would never hear back from people. That is what I considered a big red flag.

After several experiences with Craigslist I decided to build a profile on Airbnb. Soon I got a bite. A young man said he would like to move into my home in the middle of September. I read his reviews and he seemed like a good kid, so I approved his stay.

Within a few days I would say that “good” was an understatement. This kid was perfect! The reviews on Airbnb were spot on! He was quiet, respectful, considerate and kind. I couldn’t have been more pleased.

I was telling some people at a Bible Study that I went to about him. They said I should invite him to the Bible Study.

I declined that offer.

The young man works a lot of hours and I didn’t want to micromanage what spare time he had left in his day. I told them that the way I was trying to witness to this young man was to live like Jesus would.

So I began to search for how I could serve him.

I noticed that he had a really cool car. Really cool cars can become really big disasters if they are not in a garage during a Texas hailstorm. The weekend after he moved in we had a neighborhood garage sale. I used that event as an excuse to clean out the garage to make room for his car. He still didn’t park his car in the garage.

Finally, one day when hail was in the forecast I kindly asked him to pull his car into the garage. He mentioned that I wouldn’t have room for my trash cans. I firmly, but kindly, pointed out to him that my trash cans were not near as valuable as his car was. He did pull his car in the garage and I was so relieved. We did have a touch of hail that night.

This last weekend we were both planning on leaving for out of town. The Holy Spirit nudged me to ask him if he needed a ride to the airport. He said his plane was leaving at seven in the morning and he would need to leave by 5 am. I told him then I would need to get up at 4:30 am to take him and that is what I did. I was terrified that I would oversleep so I only got a bit of sleep that night.

The coolest thing about dropping him off at the airport was the conversation we had on the way. I told him a bit about my family and he told me some things about his family. It turns out that his Dad grew up on an Indian reservation. After asking a few questions I realized that I actually have given quite a bit of money to the reservation that his Dad grew up on.

In addition to having a tenant who pays rent, something uncanny happened. Before this young man moved in, I was very depressed. I couldn’t identify why I was so depressed. I didn’t know how to fight it. I would spend most mornings crying my eyes out for no apparent reason. Since he moved in my meltdowns have ceased. I mentioned this to him on the way to the airport.

He said he understood. He had initially stayed in a motel when on work assignments but the isolation had gotten to him.

The Holy Spirit had encouraged me to transform my house into an Airbnb and now I know why. I actually don’t like being a hermit as much as I thought I would. lol. I also get a real kick out of being a servant for a young man who is the best tenant a landlord could hope for.

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