By Renee Swope
“Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” Revelation 3:20 (NIV)
I’d been trying to find my son’s teacher to give her a thank you gift and a wedding gift since the last day of school. She had a very special place in my heart and I was hoping to see her one last time and personally deliver her gifts.
I’d gone by her classroom twice the week after school, but missed her both times. We played email tag all summer while two beautiful boxes sat in my van. I saw them every day and each time I thought, I’ve got to get these gifts to Ms. Currin.
I started feeling a bit desperate in August knowing that she’d be moving back to her hometown and getting married soon. Finally, I got in touch with her and we made plans to meet on her last day in town. She gave me directions to her apartment building and asked me to call her when we got there so she could meet us at the car.
Happiness filled my heart as we turned into her parking lot. However, when we pulled in front of her building I realized I had not written her phone number on the directions so I couldn't call her. I didn’t have her apartment number either. There we sat in front of a double sided, three story building with four apartments on each floor and 24 doors to choose from!
So, what’s a desperately determined woman to do? Get your husband, your two sons and their friend (13, 10, and 10) to get out in the 100-degree heat and go door-to-door in search of the teacher, while you drive the air conditioned van back and forth in case she comes out of a different building. My husband thought I'd lost my mind. But he also knew I was hormonal and on the edge of a migraine so it’d be dangerous to question my brilliant plans. The guys divided into pairs to cover both buildings, but couldn't find her. I got out and started knocking, too. Still no luck.
I suggested we search the parking lot for cars filled with contents resembling the belongings of a 4th grade teacher who is getting married. After five minutes, I admitted my plan wasn’t working. After all, what was I going to do - get her license plate number and call the police for her address? We decided to go home.
The next day my boys described the scene in great detail. “I can’t believe you made us knock on people’s doors! We even had a friend with us. Then you started looking in people’s cars and describing what you saw - that was weird! It was SO embarrassing."
I laughed so hard I cried as I listened to my kids describe the desperate determination that compelled me to do something so crazy, while enlisting the help of loved ones who now questioned my sanity. Yet it all made sense at the time. I had to find her. I wanted to see her. I needed to tell her how much she means to me, and give her a gift that would remind her for years to come.
I told some friends about my day defined by craziness, compelled by love, and fueled by a few hormones. Some gasped. Others laughed. A few confessed to similar acts of desperation. One smiled and reminded me that Jesus’ determination made others question Him too. I felt so much better!
Compelled by love alone, Jesus was determined to find us – the ones He came to seek and save. Enlisting the help of His loved ones to accomplish His plans, He was surrounded by people who questioned His ideas, and His sanity, too. Jesus could have somehow sent His gift through some other means, but He was determined to come to us personally to give the gift of His love, the gift of His life. A gift that should remind us for years to come of just how much we mean to Him.
God, thank You for being so determined to find me. I love knowing that you knock at the door of my heart because You want to give me the gift of Your life, the gift of Your love. I cherish your amazing grace that never gives up on me! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Visit Renee’s Blog to read more about God’s pursuit of us and our pursuit of Him.
Searching for Satisfaction message on CD by Renee Swope
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
Do You Know Him?
Application Steps:
Write down the ways God has pursued you with relentless love.
If you’ve never responded to Jesus’ knock on the door of your heart, click here to find out more about His love for you.
Reflections:
Do I really believe God would go to such great lengths to find me? Why or why not?
Power Verses:
Read the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son in Luke 15.
© 2008 by Renee Swope. All rights reserved.
“Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” Revelation 3:20 (NIV)
I’d been trying to find my son’s teacher to give her a thank you gift and a wedding gift since the last day of school. She had a very special place in my heart and I was hoping to see her one last time and personally deliver her gifts.
I’d gone by her classroom twice the week after school, but missed her both times. We played email tag all summer while two beautiful boxes sat in my van. I saw them every day and each time I thought, I’ve got to get these gifts to Ms. Currin.
I started feeling a bit desperate in August knowing that she’d be moving back to her hometown and getting married soon. Finally, I got in touch with her and we made plans to meet on her last day in town. She gave me directions to her apartment building and asked me to call her when we got there so she could meet us at the car.
Happiness filled my heart as we turned into her parking lot. However, when we pulled in front of her building I realized I had not written her phone number on the directions so I couldn't call her. I didn’t have her apartment number either. There we sat in front of a double sided, three story building with four apartments on each floor and 24 doors to choose from!
So, what’s a desperately determined woman to do? Get your husband, your two sons and their friend (13, 10, and 10) to get out in the 100-degree heat and go door-to-door in search of the teacher, while you drive the air conditioned van back and forth in case she comes out of a different building. My husband thought I'd lost my mind. But he also knew I was hormonal and on the edge of a migraine so it’d be dangerous to question my brilliant plans. The guys divided into pairs to cover both buildings, but couldn't find her. I got out and started knocking, too. Still no luck.
I suggested we search the parking lot for cars filled with contents resembling the belongings of a 4th grade teacher who is getting married. After five minutes, I admitted my plan wasn’t working. After all, what was I going to do - get her license plate number and call the police for her address? We decided to go home.
The next day my boys described the scene in great detail. “I can’t believe you made us knock on people’s doors! We even had a friend with us. Then you started looking in people’s cars and describing what you saw - that was weird! It was SO embarrassing."
I laughed so hard I cried as I listened to my kids describe the desperate determination that compelled me to do something so crazy, while enlisting the help of loved ones who now questioned my sanity. Yet it all made sense at the time. I had to find her. I wanted to see her. I needed to tell her how much she means to me, and give her a gift that would remind her for years to come.
I told some friends about my day defined by craziness, compelled by love, and fueled by a few hormones. Some gasped. Others laughed. A few confessed to similar acts of desperation. One smiled and reminded me that Jesus’ determination made others question Him too. I felt so much better!
Compelled by love alone, Jesus was determined to find us – the ones He came to seek and save. Enlisting the help of His loved ones to accomplish His plans, He was surrounded by people who questioned His ideas, and His sanity, too. Jesus could have somehow sent His gift through some other means, but He was determined to come to us personally to give the gift of His love, the gift of His life. A gift that should remind us for years to come of just how much we mean to Him.
God, thank You for being so determined to find me. I love knowing that you knock at the door of my heart because You want to give me the gift of Your life, the gift of Your love. I cherish your amazing grace that never gives up on me! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Visit Renee’s Blog to read more about God’s pursuit of us and our pursuit of Him.
Searching for Satisfaction message on CD by Renee Swope
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
Do You Know Him?
Application Steps:
Write down the ways God has pursued you with relentless love.
If you’ve never responded to Jesus’ knock on the door of your heart, click here to find out more about His love for you.
Reflections:
Do I really believe God would go to such great lengths to find me? Why or why not?
Power Verses:
Read the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son in Luke 15.
© 2008 by Renee Swope. All rights reserved.
4 Comments:
Praise God for your wonderful determination and the great cooperation of your family. What a great way to showcase God's determination to give us His gift of love and eternal life. How great is our God!! Praise His holy and righteous Name!!
"Compelled by love..." that sums it all up! Thanks, Renee!
Did she ever get the gift??? Curious minds want to know!
Warm blessings,
Sharon
Totally understand those hormonal moments...and the love behind the thought.
so did she get the gift?
I love you girls! It's just like women to want to know what happened. The gifts are still sitting in my house. I am still determined to hand them to her.
She was the most amazing teacher and even today I thought of her. It's the last day of the first week of school and it's been Andrew's best first week ever. She helped him overcome so much anxiety and fear. She is also a Christian so she prayed for him and loved him into knowing he had a special role to play in that classroom. It was life-changing for him.
She has moved. But since her wedding isn't until September and she moved to a town near the same town where my sister-in-law lives, I am still scheming to personally deliver them to her next time we are their visiting. Maybe I need to pray and make sure God doesn't want me to just mail them. Maybe I just need to write a really special letter and trust God with the personal delivery :-).
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