Open Doors, Broken Doors

After church this morning, Rachel and I walked through our backyard to the Thompson's house and gave his family a plate of cookies. The Thompsons have five children and they were all running around and playing. It was our first time stopping by and they invited us in warmly. I love that without a word of notice they were prepared to welcome guests in, even if their house was not perfect (My other mom, Mrs. Lippman, always says, "welcome to our imperfect home" and I think that is a very Godly greeting). To me, welcoming a visitor into an imperfect but loving home is a powerful way a family can show God's heart. We played with the kids, chatted with the family and made our way out, happy to have made connections with our new friends.

Walking down their driveway I spotted Thompson's car door ajar with the inside panel removed. I asked him about it. "Our daughter likes to swing from the handle and it finally broke! I have been
trying to fix it but I need a certain tool," he said. 

"Yeah sorry man, I am no tool guy either. Good luck with that!" And Rachel and I walked home and went to hanging pictures. Opening up the tool box to get the hanging stuff I saw the tool Thompson needed! Running over (with my "church clothes" still on) I re-greeted Thompson and got to work. It was harder than we thought and took a few tries but after forty-five minutes it was fixed! I said goodbye again to the whole family, including the yellow toad their adopted son had recently adopted. 

I want to be watchful for these things more often, to be available to God and others. Because sometimes God opens doors for us to walk through. And sometimes He shows us a broken one and gives us the tools to fix it with our neighbor. Today I had the blessing of both.