A KNOCK AT THE DOOR

It’s hard to believe it was almost thirty-six years that they came to my door but I remember it well. Wendy and I had been married not quite a year and were serving together in a little country pastorate. Actually, it was a large country pastorate with five different churches spread over a large area in central New Brunswick, Canada.    We were learning to trust and serve God together.

It was kind of a wild winter night outside as we hunkered down in the little house the church provided for us.    Situated right on the main Trans Canada Highway we could usually hear the traffic as it passed by and the sounds of the big trucks as they geared down coming off the high bridge just down the road. But not tonight.

Tonight there were few sounds.    The roads were bad as the snow continued to come down quite heavily.    We hadn’t lost our power yet but feared it would soon be out.    A lot of trucks had pulled off the road and were parked in the Gas Station across the road from the Parsonage.    It was not a good night to be out on the road.

It was still a week or two before Christmas so we had been busily preparing to spend our first Christmas together.    The tree was up and all decorated as we snuggled up in the livingroom to let the evening pass and enjoy the evening together.    All was quiet and we weren’t going anywhere in this weather.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.    Who in the world would be out visiting on a night like tonight. Getting up and going to door we wondered who could it be.    As I opened the door there stood a young man with a heavy beard. "Good evening", I said wondering who this young man might be.    I’d never seen him before.    It wasn’t unusual for us to get hitch hikers coming in off the road looking for a handout and I presumed this was the case here.

"My name is Joseph he said" with a heavy French accent.    This wasn’t the French part of the province so I wondered why he had come to my door.    "My wife and I are travelling home for the holidays and as you can see the weather is pretty bad."

"Yes," I said, "It’s a pretty miserable night. How can I help you?"

Almost apologetically he said, " Well, my wife is pregnant with our first child and the roads are getting pretty bad.    We really need to stop and get off the road for the night."

There was a brief awkward silence and I tried to evaluate the situation.    We had a lot of people coming in off the highway looking for money and I wondered if this was some kind of scam.    I looked out at the foot of the driveway towards his car to see if I could see if anyone else was in the car.    Through the snow which was really starting to pile up I could see a young women sitting on the passenger side.    I wondered if they might get stuck in the driveway.    He continued, "I was wondering if there was a hotel near by where we could get a room?"

I was relieved, Wendy and I had been looking forward to spending the evening together and I frankly, I was afraid he was going to ask either for some money for a room or if they could stay for us.    No such request came.

"There’s a hotel less than half a mile down the road on the left side" I told him.    "I’m sure they will have a room tonight."    He thanked me and turned back to go get in his car while I turned back into the house closing the door behind me.

Walking back into the living room I told Wendy what had just happened but had uneasy and mixed feelings.    I was relieved that we could continue our quiet evening together.    But I was puzzled as I thought of Joseph and his wife.

It began to dawn on me that maybe all was as cut and dried as I thought.    I thought, by the age of the car he was driving and the clothes he was wearing, he probably couldn’t afford a hotel room.    Even if he had the money in his pocket, it probably was needed for something else.    Being a little slow to catch on to these things, it began to dawn on me that perhaps this man and his pregnant wife really did need someplace to stay but couldn’t really afford the price of a motel room.

I quickly put on my winter boots and jacket.    They couldn’t be too far away in this weather, perhaps not even out of the driveway yet. I hurried out the door.    Their car was not in the driveway and there was too much snow now for me to get mine out of the garage without a lot of shovelling.

I made my way though the snow to the shoulder of the road.    I looked across the road to the Gas Station to see if they had pulled in there.    No sign of them there.   I then looked up the road towards the hotel.    Surely in this snow they couldn’t have reached the hotel yet and I’d see their tail lights.    There were no tail lights to be seen.

By now I was feeling pretty badly that someone in need had come to my door and I had turned them away.    Walking towards the hotel I rationalized in my mind, "Well, he never really told me he wanted to stay at my house and he did ask about a hotel."    But down inside I knew I hadn’t wanted to be inconvenienced.

It was still snowing hard and the visibility was poor but I walked my way to where I could see the motel.    I wanted to find him and invite him and his wife to come back to our house for the night.    When I got close enough I surveyed the parking spaces in front of the rooms. He wasn’t there.    I couldn’t see Joseph’s car.    He was gone and there was no car in sight.

Walking back to my nice warm house, I couldn’t help but think about that Inn Keeper in Bethlehem that first Christmas night.    What must he have felt knowing he had no room? Surely one day he would find out that the King of Kings was born that night and he had missed the opportunity to serve the King.    To have the king born at his Inn.

Even to this day I often wonder what happened to the Joseph and his wife who had come to my door in a snow storm looking for a place to stay.    I wonder sometimes if we missed the opportunity to entertain angels (Hebrews 13:2).    And I wonder whatever happened to that little baby.    I regret that we never invited them into our home.

Of course the baby born at Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas has changed the world and continues to change lives of those who make room for Him.    Let me ask you, what happened to that little baby in your life.    We know that He went on to grow into a man and eventually die on a cross and raise from the dead to pay for our sins.    He was born the Incarnate Son of God, the Saviour of the World.    May you invite Him in to be Lord and Saviour of your life.

Merry Christmas to you all

Pastor Rick