Come on, Jäger I’m exhausted, sweaty and hungry. It’s four o’clock, we have a dinner appointment at six. Why not head home now for a quick shower, nice nap and then we can head out to dinner?
Looking very serious, Gottlieb responded, I feel impressed that we need to knock on a few more doors.
Seriously? You’re hitting me with the old, I’m impressed to knock a few more doors? We must have knocked a thousand doors today, most of which were slammed in our faces. Come on, let’s go home.
Our bikes are locked up at the end of this block. Let’s just knock the rest of the doors on this block and then we’ll head back. Will you do that?
Gottlieb with a sigh, sarcastically responded, “and now the will-you question? I went to the same training that you went to. Fine, let’s go. I’ll knock and you do the talking for the rest of this block. Will you do that?”
You need to repent.
Pretty sure, I’m doing it right now.
They walked up to a very old brick home covered in ivy. It looked like a home that hadn’t been maintained for decades. It was older than all of the homes in the neighborhood.
Looking at the old home Jäger said, “wow, look at this old house. It must be over a hundred years old. It looks like it’s ready for demolition. I don’t think anyone is living here. Wait, I can smell a fire burning.
Should I call 911?
No, it’s a fireplace. Look, there’s smoke coming from that old chimney.
Gottlieb wiped his face with a dirty rag. It’s 95 degrees with 80 percent humidity. Why would someone have a fireplace going?
I don’t know. Let’s find out.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Where’s your faith?
Gottlieb gave Jäger a stare as they walked up to the door and knocked on a very old creaking door. The door opened slightly as he knocked. Ok, we knocked. The creepy door is now open and no one’s answering. Can we go now?
Try the door bell.
Fine! They heard the sound of a muffled old door bell that has lost its original ding-dong sound. It sounded more like a small hammer hitting the top of a paint can.
Jäger taking a deep breath said, “I can hear the crackling of the fire and it smells like the kind of wood that we would burn in our fireplace back in Idaho.”
Oh please, you’re not going to start reminiscing about life back at the potato farm again, said Gottlieb?
Idaho was a great place to grow up.
Have you even been any where other than Idaho and here? How can you know that one place is so great if you haven’t experienced other places?
The two young men hear a faint gentle voice from inside the house saying, “That’s a very good question. Please come in. “I’ve been expecting you.”1
REFERENCES
- Adams, Scott. God’s Debris a Thought Experiment. Andrews McMeel, 2013.