in my hands. It sort of happened this way. We had bought an older house with the idea that we would slowly do renovations on it bit by bit. One particular Christmas Eve a few years ago, we were getting ready to go out. I had been doing a little bit of fooling around with locksets on the door. Nothing major, just a little bit of tinkering and replacing. All the kids were in the car, Mrs. Felix was in the car, and they were just waiting for me. I had a service to do at 7 pm.
I had a few loads of things to take out, and I still had a few necessary things in the house. I pulled the back door closed. I looked down and saw that I had pulled the doorknob out. I heard the gentle sound of pieces falling on the other side of the door. Even now I cannot find words adequate to describe the sensation - the feeling which goes right down to the bone - of realizing that somehow I had not only locked myself out of the house, but I was standing there in minus 20 weather with a doorknob in my hand. I had no way back in, and time was getting on.
Well, what else could a person do? My sermon was sitting nicely on the printer downstairs, my fabulous props for the kids' story were in a box in the basement. I, on the other hand, was merely an object of immense tragedy, or perhaps comedy.
Doorknob in hand, we went off the the service. I improvised a bit, suspecting that if one looks carefully enough, one can find God's message in all things. So I explained the mystery of the incarnation in terms of my doorknob. I'm sure Mrs. Felix was wondering greatly why I was bringing it to church that evening. Christmas? Doorknob?
We've pulled the door shut; we've closed it from our side. And we've done such a job of it that there is no way, from our side, that we can get back in to the other side - to our home. We can't get there from here. The only hope is that there is Someone on the other side who will come to where we are.
We could not get into God's world, we have closed the door from our side. But He could get into our world, and in that stable he opened the door from His side.
Incarnation.
Very impressive!
My shower exploded last march. What can you do with that?
Posted by: Mrs.spit | December 19, 2008 at 06:01 PM
Wow, I LOVED that story Felix! Thank you for it and for telling it so wonderfully.
I am Belinda of Whatever He Says, another blog in the Religion/Philosophy category of the Canadian Blog Awards. I am also a member of the leadership team of The Word Guild: www.thewordguild.com . I want to spread the word to those who may not know of this wonderful association of writers who are Christian. It is a great place to network. Our mission is to impact the culture of Canada through the media, especially the written word. I extend a warm invitation to join, if you haven't already considered it. Rev. Ed Hird, of British Columbia is a member. He is the author of Battle for the Soul of Canada.
Blessings!
Posted by: Belinda Burston | December 19, 2008 at 08:32 PM
I hope it's ok but I am printing off the story to share at a little Christmas concert tonight, with due credit to the source of course!
Posted by: Belinda Burston | December 20, 2008 at 07:19 AM
Mrs Spit - hmmm... I think there is some good material to work with there. Perhaps Mr Spit & I cold go into business doing home reno work together.
Belinda - thanks for dropping by - feel free to use anything from my blog which you find.
All credit goes to Him...
Posted by: joseph | December 20, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Joe,
I don't know how to say this, but tonight our doorknob fell off.
Only the side that fell off has trapped us in instead of locking us out.
I am not making this up.
Posted by: Leslie | December 21, 2008 at 07:48 PM
Leslie, between you and Mrs Spit, I'm getting lots of material to work with here. "The Purpose Driven Door" will be a bestseller, and I will give you each a share of the royalties. I will still charge my friends entrance fees to the conferences, though.
Posted by: joseph | December 22, 2008 at 02:53 PM
As always felix, you are kindness and graciousness itself.
Fix the leaking basement in our 1911 house, and you can keep the royalties!
Leslie might need hers to find someone to fix her knob though.
Posted by: Mrs. Spit | December 22, 2008 at 03:11 PM