A Sound In The Garage

I got back from my walk and entered my garage.
The door to my house was locked but one garage door was open.
My husband has just left for work.
I was hungry since I walked before having breakfast.

I had a full day ahead of me.
I am not a clock watcher.
In fact, I cannot stand being dictated by a clock.
It is necessary in this world we live in but I reject clock watching every chance I get.

I would drive a very punctual person crazy.
Instead of being a few minutes early for things, I tend to be a few minutes late.
I am not proud of that fact.
I always think I can get one more thing done before I head out the door.

However, this particular morning I needed to look at the clock.
I knew that I had to eat breakfast and then do some things around the house.
Then I needed to leave to do some errands.
When I returned home, I knew that I would write and prepare to teach Bible study the next day.

I entered the garage and heard a sound.
I heard it again.
It was a thumping sound.
I stood there and tried to discern what was making the sound.

All of a sudden, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
I turned towards the movement but saw nothing.
Then I saw the movement again in another place.
Whatever was moving was making the sound.

I saw the movement above me.
I saw the movement to the side of me.
Then I discovered what was making the sound.
A bird had flown into my garage and could not get out.

The bird was flying near the garages with the closed doors.
The bird failed to see that the one garage door was open.
The bird was perching on the rakes and the leaf blower and anything else it could land on.
Instead of being annoyed, I felt sorry for the bird.

For the duration of my walk, the bird was trapped in our garage.
The bird seemed so afraid.
Even though there was one open door, it couldn’t seem to find its way over to it.
There was a way out but the bird did not take it.

I looked up at the clock and realized that about ten minutes had gone by.
A fall chill was in the air and the wind was blowing.
This is the time of year the birds will take advantage of an open garage.
There were other years when a bird would get trapped in our garage.

Many a morning, a bird would greet us as we opened the door.
The instinctive reaction was to close the door quickly so the bird would not fly into the house.
It is a startling thing to have a bird fly in front of your face in the morning.
It is just something you learn to expect living in the country when the weather gets colder.

I opened the third garage and the bird flew right out.
I immediately closed both garage doors, never needing to open the second one.
I marveled that the bird could not find a way out even though there was an open door.
The bird was stuck needlessly.

What if I had been gone all day?
What if the bird had been in the garage all night?
I wanted to say, Silly bird! But it wouldn’t have made a difference.
I wanted to say, Didn’t you see the open door? But my words would have meant nothing.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climb in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers…” So Jesus again said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:1-5, 7-10)

So many people are like the bird that was trapped in my garage.
They fly off in all different directions looking for a way out.
They feel stuck; they feel trapped.
They pound on anything they come up against.

We could say, Silly people.
Except we are silly, foolish, and directionless before we came to Christ.
We could say, Didn’t you see the open door?
Except we are the ones who need to point them to the door that is Jesus.

The open Door is right before their eyes, yet they still flounder.
There is a Way, but they try to choose their own.
They are not trapped but they live like they are.
They are not stuck but they fail to see.

We, who are in Christ, should be able to empathize.
We were once that bird flying into things.
We were once lost with the Way out right before us.
We were once trapped with the open Door in front of us.

We, who know that lost-ness, must point them to the Door.
There is only one Way.
The Way is a Person.
That Person is Jesus.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.
That is the only direction they need for salvation.
Jesus is the only Door.
Let us faithfully point them towards Him.