Did You Remember to Lock the Door?
When Denny's decided to close all but six of its 1,221 restaurants for Christmas in 1988, they ran into an unexpected problem—many of their locations didn't have locks on their doors because they had never needed to close before. As a result, the company had to install locks in more than 700 restaurants just so they could shut down for the holiday2.
It was a historic moment for the chain, which had always prided itself on being open 24/7, 365 days a year. The closure was meant to be a gift to employees, allowing them to spend Christmas with their families, even though it cost the company millions in lost revenue.
Imagine working at a place for years and never needing to lock the doors—then suddenly having to figure out how to close up shop! Quite the logistical challenge.
Like Denny's, you may want the door of your heart to be open 24/7. But there is inherent danger in doing so. You never know what unsavory or ill intentioned enemy might jiggle the doorknob and creep on in.
We want our hearts always to be "ready" to welcome the Lord ... and His people! Ready to receive all the Lord has for us! Ready for His return! Ready for opportunites to serve and care for the needs of others! Ready to serve up a "grand slam" of Christian hospitality or ministry.
But vigilence is key. Lock the doors, but be listening for the knock of His return or the knock of opportunity to minister and serve.
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12, ESV).
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10, ESV).
Sleeping With One Eye Open
Did you know that dolphins sleep with one eye open? It’s true.
They do so because they can only ever let one side of their brain sleep at a time. When the left side of the brain sleeps, the right eye will close, and vice versa. This isn’t some weird, ambidextrous stunt they’re pulling. Rather, it’s because they must always remain partially conscious to remind themselves to breathe.
You see, dolphins, unlike most sea creatures, are not fish. They are mammals. As such, they need to surface regularly to take in air. And for dolphins, breathing is not automatic or reflexive the way it is for humans. “In other words,” say the experts at us.whales.org, “dolphins have to actively decide when to breathe, … [They] alternate which half of the brain is sleeping periodically so that they can get the rest they need without ever losing consciousness.”
If a dolphin were ever to go into deep, full-brain, total unconscious sleep, they would simply suffocate or drown.
Likewise, believers can't afford to be lulled to sleep by the world but must remain alert, always ready for the Lord's return.
"But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation" (1Thessalonians 5:4-8, NLT).
The Love That Waited
Lots of people say “till death do us part” when they get married. But few get a chance to prove it as Clara Gantt did. In 1948 she married Joseph Gantt, and not long after that, he was deployed with the US Army to Korea to fight in the Korean War. US Army First Class Sergeant Joseph Gantt was captured and thought to be killed in action in 1950. But his body was never found, and his death was never confirmed by the North Koreans.
His wife, Clara, waited for decades for her husband to come back. She regularly went to meetings with government officials seeking information about what had happened. Clara even bought a house and had it professionally landscaped so all Joseph would have to do when he came home was go fishing.
She was ninety-four years old when his remains were finally brought home for a military funeral with full honors. It wasn’t the homecoming she dreamed of, but she finally knew his fate. Clara told a reporter who interviewed her, “He told me if anything happened to him, he wanted me to remarry. And I told him ‘No, no.’ Here I am, still his wife, and I’m going to remain his wife until the day the Lord calls me home.”
She continued to love him till the end, even though it was decades in the making.
As believers, we are the Bride of Christ, waiting for His return. He doesn't expect us to build Him a home but has called us to be faithful and patiently wait until He takes us home. While Mrs. Clara Gantt's long wait ended with sorrow and disappointment, the patience of the believer will be rewarded with eternal jubilation.
"My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-3).
"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8).