The Other Side of the Door
My husband Rob got to know this incredible 65-year-old woman who has given her life to serve widows and orphans as a missionary in Haiti. Rob went to work with her several times in Haiti and then she came to Bellingham with her oldest son and they stayed with us at our house. When they came, we of course let them know mi casa es su casa- make yourselves at home. We said “Help yourself to the fridge, the hot tub- whatever you need.” One night we stayed up visiting, and then everybody went to their own rooms pretty early to get a good night’s sleep.
Rob and I went to our room and got ready for bed. I was ready and got into bed. What was about to take place illustrates that we should have been a couple on a reality TV show. I was lying on my side of the bed, waiting for Rob to turn out the lights and come to bed, and out of the corner of my eye, I see big motions and dancing around. So I look up and see my 6-foot-something husband in a 1980’s cotton, blue and white striped bathing suit, 12 sizes too small, that I had borrowed from a 5-foot-short friend. It began ripping at the seams and Rob’s body parts were hanging out the sides of it! It quickly became evident that men fit differently in women’s bathing suits than women do (just in case you were wondering.) And to top off the outfit, Rob was dancing around like a ballerina doing hip hop! “What are you doing?” I say. Keep in mind, his motions were making a lot of noise, and I began laughing hysterically…. “Hahahahahahaha!!!” I was thinking it was hilarious so I began egging him on with my laughter! Hahhaeeeee!!!!!!!!” And then it was like time stopped and we both realized the same thing at the same time- “The hot tub!” The hot tub we invited the missionaries to use was right outside our window, and the blinds were completely open. We freaked out, realizing that these missionaries were going to think that my husband was a cross-dresser and this was our nighty night ritual. I jumped up on the bed and peered out the window. They weren’t out there. I was like “YES-oh good YES – Phewwwwww!” Then we realized all of the dancing, laughing, jumping, bed noises and excitement probably sounded like something else was happening in the bedroom, other than what was happening in the bedroom. My husband being a cross dresser would have been a better option than what all the commotion was telling them! All night I couldn’t wait to wake up and say to those missionaries: “Good morning! What you think was going on, on the other side of that door, is not what was going on, on the other side of that door! Do you take cream in your coffee?”
It is so easy to misunderstand what is happening on the other side of a door. In the same way that we misunderstand and make huge assumptions about people, we also do this with God. We assume God is as lame is the father who never showed up. HE is the one who did nothing when we most needed it. He is an uptight God who is ready to ground us at an instant. He is here to break up the party. HE is a God who will have nothing to do with real people with real problems. He is a God of the do-gooders and the rule followers but not a God of someone like me. He is an angry God and fire breathes out his noise waiting to blow his fiery snot on anyone He wishes. He is a God who wants to send everyone to hell who lives messy lives. He is a workaholic and too busy for us. God is manic and likes us one day and not the next. We have all these assumptions about Him. And yet God says in Revelation 3:20 HereI am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
There is this sense that God waits at our door and He knocks and He will keep knocking and we can let Him in and He will be with us. But there are so many assumptions that keep us from opening that door. The Bible tells us of a God who wants to be known by us. He wants to be known by us so much so that He reveals Himself to people over and over again. Very often, Jesus was caught saying “I am”, followed up by a description of who He is. Maybe if we began to look at Jesus for who He says He is rather than who we assume Him to be or who others say HE is… we might be very upset to realize that we kept the door closed for so very long and behind it was the most beautiful, just, good, patient, gracious, God we could ever imagine! Continue to know Jesus for who HE says HE is, and you won’t be able to help letting him into all the rooms of your life!
