Will you jump the fence?

The other night I was out later than usual and there was some suspicious activity going on at our neighbor’s house, so Lacey had shut the gate to the driveway to deter people from just walking up uninvited.  When I got home Lacey asked me if I had spoken to any of the guys from our community group to see if they happened to stop by even though group was cancelled.  I hadn’t and was curious as to why she was asking me this.  She told me that about the time group typically starts someone rang the back doorbell and she couldn’t get to it fast enough to see who it was. 

At first I didn’t think much of it, until I asked her why the gate had the rope on it.  I could tell by the puzzled look on her face that something just wasn’t quite right.  We came to the conclusion that for the rope to still be in place after someone to gotten to the back door, they had to open the gate and replace the rope from the outside or they had to have jumped the gate. Did I mention that it’s six feet tall?  As we threw out person after person we just couldn’t figure out who this could be.  Then about a day later it hit me that it might be one of the boys from down the street. We’ll call him Rick. 

The next day when I saw Rick I asked him about this.  Sure enough it was him.  He said, “I went to the front but couldn’t reach the doorbell, so I jumped the gate.  I just wanted to shoot ball, Mr. J.”  Rick comes over just about every day to shoot ball and this was the first time that the gate was closed, so it’s not too surprising for him to have been confused. 

As the week went on I couldn’t stop thinking about this small incident. Then it hit me; Rick, this 13 year old boy, was willing to do whatever it took to shoot ball that day. How willing am I to do whatever it takes to be with God whom I say I love?  Am I willing to give up my own comforts and desires to be with Jesus? 

In Mark 2 there is a scene where Jesus is preaching and so many people are gathered together that you couldn’t even get close to Jesus.  As four men came bringing a paralytic there was no way that they were going to be able to get this man near him.  Once they realized this, did they turn around in defeat? No, they removed the roof and lowered the paralytic down to Jesus.  Why? They knew that this man needed Jesus and were willing to do whatever it took to get him close to Him.  How willing are you to take big risks to be close to Jesus?  Rick, while he doesn’t know Jesus yet, clearly has a desire to go after things that he is passionate about.  As Christians we often say that “all we need is Jesus,” but do we jump fences or lower our friends down roofs in order to be near Him?