The Narrow Gate

He that will be knighted must kneel for it, and he that will enter in at the strait gate must crowd for it--a gate made so on purpose, narrow and hard in the entrance, yet, after we have entered, wide and glorious, that after our pain our joy may be the sweeter.  Thomas Adams

If the way to heaven is so narrow, and so few find it, what will become of those who never seek it? William Tiptaft

This week has been an interesting weather week in Texas.  On Monday we had ice everywhere.  So much so that my office was closed and then yesterday the bad weather lingered so we opened late and then today we are expected to have 2-3” of snow.  I know that doesn’t seem like much to anyone living up north, but those of us who live in Texas are better at handling 105 degree temperatures than 20 degree temperatures.

So yesterday our office opened late, (10:00am), mainly to make allowances for our ineptness on icy roads.  I saw one woman on TV ice skating on her street.  But that is a whole other story. 

Back to my story.  I left work around 9:00 and was at work by 10:00.  My husband left to go to work after I did.  So late morning or early afternoon I get a call from my Mom, who had received a call from one of our neighbors that there was a truck in our front yard.  Some of you may remember my previous devotional in January about another vehicle in our front yard. 

I’m beginning to think our yard is a Dodge magnet.  Both vehicles that ended up in our yard were big, (the one yesterday was a double cab), Dodge trucks.  Why couldn’t someone driving a Smart car end up in our yard?  Since my husband works closer to our house he left work to go back home and check out our front yard.  I’m starting to think we should just cement our whole front yard and charge people for parking. 

Anyway, an 18 year old driver with no license and driving his Dad’s brand new Dodge truck was driving too fast down our street.  Did I mention that there are often cars parked on both sides of our street so there is only a narrow one car lane in the middle of the street?  Did I also mention that the reason we didn’t go to work until mid-morning was because there was ice everywhere. 

My husband’s truck was parked in front of the house.  This driver hit an icy patch under some overhanging trees.  He veered to the right and hit the curb, dug dirt out of the neighbor’s yard as his wheel went over the curb.  This action threw him across the street backwards over our curb and into our yard.  As he flew by my husband’s clean truck, he was throwing clods of dirt and grass from the neighbor’s yard and ours all over his truck.   He was going so fast that the truck swung around and the right front fender hit our cypress tree in the front yard.  The tree then knocked him back into the middle of our yard and he came to rest straddling our sidewalk.  This kid was going backwards so fast that he left skid marks on the street.   The kid’s dad came to survey the damage and both the son and the dad received tickets for you guessed it, “wreckless driving and unauthorized operation of a vehicle”. 

When I got home from work I went into the front yard to survey the damage.  There was paint and glass embedded 5 feet up our tree.  We have tire tracks a foot deep in our yard.  As I looked at the damage and the tire tracks that tracked back into our yard I first thought about how blessed we were that the tree we have been talking about cutting down because of all the cypress knees; saved our living room and spare bedroom from having a Dodge in it.

Then it made me think of the verse in Matthew 7: 13-14.  It talks about how the gate is narrow to get to heaven.  There is a much wider and broader gate that leads to destruction.  There are going to be few who will go through the narrow gate.  The most profound statement in this scripture to me is “Difficult is the way which leads to life.”  As I looked at the narrow space between my husband’s truck and the tree, it made me think of these verses.  Too many times I think we expect the Christian life to be easy.  God wouldn’t tell us the way is difficult if He didn’t mean it.  When the difficulties of life get in your way, remember that it leads to everlasting life.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am amazed at how that truck ran between my husband’s truck and the tree.  I think that must be what the gate to heaven is like.  There is very little room for error.  Keep me on the path to that narrow gate where I will find life everlasting.   

  

Scripture: The Narrow Way

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Matthew 7:13-14