The Other Side of the Gate

I have a confession to make to everyone here.


I am not an expert. In anything. At all. Not even a little.

I was a pretty excellent student in school and I studied all kinds of things over the years. However, none of those things have ever translated into a skill set for which people hand me money in exchange for my specialized knowledge, ability, service, or good. I am a regular person who lives regular days and writes stories about what I think I may have learned. Then I post those stories amidst a flurry of other people telling you all the "must-haves," "must-dos," "seventeen-things-you-should's," and "how-to's" and I get all conflicted about it.

I am a really thoughtful person, therefore, I am a really thought-full person. I formulate an awful lot of opinions based on a limited amount of facts, because that is what my brain has been taught to do all those years in school. And I really do believe that critical thinking is a good thing.

But thinking and knowing are two different things.

This morning I was doing my Bible study and I came across a passage I had never noticed before.

Allow me to set the scene:
King Herod Agrippa had arrested and executed certain members of the church and intended to do the same to Peter. He had Peter arrested and imprisoned, with a trial date (and likely execution) set the day following the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In the meantime, he put four sets of four soldiers to guard Peter while he was in prison. The day before his trial, an angel leads Peter through a miraculous prison escape. The first place Peter goes after he is freed is to tell his friends in a house just outside the city.

(This is the part where I started reading this morning.)

And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.
But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. (Acts 12:13-16 KJV)

I laughed and laughed at so many parts of this story--which is maybe not all that reverent when you're reading the Bible, but this is funny stuff, people.
1. Late in the middle of the night, there is a knock at the gate. The men of the house are busy praying for Peter, so sweet Rhoda goes to get the door. Pro parenting tip for dads: If ever there is a late night knock at your door, don't send your little girl to go get it.
2. Girl gets so excited when she hears Peter calling at the gate she immediately runs to tell everybody, leaving him behind the shut gate. HA! Classic.
3. Girl: That thing that you have been praying nonstop for has happened! Men: You are cray.
4. While everyone is debating whether or not Peter exists, he is just standing there a-knockin' the whole time. (um, guys?? Still here. Is anybody...no? Ok.)

Oh man, I just loved all of this in so many ways.

But then...
I got to thinking. (It's what I do.)


I can be an awful lot like those men in the house. (I mean, I don't send my children to answer the door late at night, but otherwise I'm pretty par for the course.) I am a reasonably intelligent person with a pretty good grasp of the way I think things should play out. When I get surprising information contrary to those expectations, I either
1) think the person is crazy,
2) think the person is mistaken, or
3) open the issue up for discussion/debate.

But what if there is a better way?

All silliness aside, the crazy thing about this story is that it is essentially about a whole bunch of people arguing over the likelihood of something when the ACTUAL ANSWER was right outside their door. Y'all, we do this all the time!! These were reasonable men. They were probably making their assumptions from pretty solid ideas. But the only FACT of the matter was standing on the other side of their discussion.
The coolest thing about our access to information these days is that we have an extraordinary foundation on which to formulate our ideas and opinions about the world. And, we can have some really eye-opening and interesting discussions with people to help give ourselves a broader scope. It's so easy to base opinions on what we *think* we know, but oftentimes the actual answer is sitting there--right outside the area of conversation.
Just a-knockin'.

In a world where we are constantly invited to debate the issues, sometimes we are better served to go to the gate and see for ourselves.

And hear me out, this doesn't even have to be so politically-charged.

I am HORRIBLE at starting new tasks because I always play the devil's advocate for my new ideas.
It looks like this:

My Spirit: Maybe if I made an effort to {try new thing; talk to new person; go somewhere different; begin new project; start doing this one thing differently} that would be a catalyst for a really good thing for me.
My Brain: I disagree. Here is a list of 9,925,514 ways you will fail and this will all go catastrophically wrong or not change a single thing for you at all.

I have to laugh at my men in the house again, because the thing that they were arguing about was essentially something that they all were rooting for. Whether they believed it could be true or not, nobody who was in that house was going to be sad if they saw Peter standing there. And truthfully, their arguing was so unnecessary. Either the man was there or he wasn't. What in the world kept them from going to the gate?!

The same unnecessary scenario is true for me, too. If I got the momentum my heart hopes for, my brain wouldn't have any reason to complain. It's not like the two aren't on the same team--I don't think I'm that crazy.

So what if I just went to the gate and looked anyway? What if I just did the one thing... made the one change... explored the one different area...
I could debate every area of the issue indefinitely, or I could just get up and check it out. Again, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that
Either way, my answer is on the other side of the gate.



What about you? What is the thing you are unsure of but want to find out? What is the thing that seems unlikely but that you're really hoping for? What would it mean for you if you went to the gate and found it waiting there for you? What could that change about your story?

What are you waiting for, friend?
Quit talking and go look.

(Also, please note the tiny piece of my deer friend just beyond my gate :) )