Le Petit Hotel                                                                             Pension Katharina

It's amazing the different kinds of hotels that welcome you for an overnight stay. Some of them welcome you with smiles, others don't seem to have woken up yet, and still others make you wish you had never arrived.

Nothing can compare to our stays at Le Petit Hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland, and at Pension Katharina in Jungholz, Austria. Both places received us with open arms, as if we were long lost friends. Both of them sat with us and gave us tips for our sightseeing adventures. Both of them made us feel valuable and welcome.

At Le Petit Hotel, my mother-in-law in Canada had troubles reaching us by phone. There were no phones in the rooms, and the receptionist had told us ahead of time that if we were downstairs when the call came in, we could talk on the hotel's main line. She then stayed with us to help us receive our call. When the call didn't come, she gave us her cell phone and encouraged us to use it to call my mother-in-law in Canada. She was at the hotel helping us for over an hour past her normal working hours, despite the fact that she had to be back at work for 6:00 a.m. the following morning.

At Pension Katharina, there were also no phones in the rooms. This time when my mother-in-law called, the owners came personally to the door of our room, bringing us their portable phone. They then offered to do our laundry for us, and they also charged our MP3s. That evening we entered a room filled with folded laundry and no worries about where to find a Laundromat.

The kind of reception we received in these two hotels make us want to go back. Not only did we have a nice place to stay, but we also made some friends in the short time we were there. I can truly say these places were like a home far away from home, and believe me, if we ever find ourselves in either Zermatt or Jungholz again, we know where we will stay!

Compared to eternity, our stay here on Planet Earth is also but a short stay away from home. Because there is so much beauty and so many exciting things to do here, we sometimes forget that this is but our temporary residence. May we never lose sight of our real home! May we never start feeling so comfortable in our temporary home, that it works to the detriment of our eternal destiny!

"Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." (1 Peter 2:11-12 The Message)

"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth… Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (Heb 11:13, 16 NIV)

My friend, where is your home?

"Do you really want to stay in my decrepit hotel? Are you sane?"

This is the kind of reception we once received in a hotel in Northern British Columbia …

Rob Chaffart