Hopefully, the following writings capture the
essence of what I desire for Net Work Ministries to be about with God’s help
and your prayers, encouragement and support:
I Stand at the Door
By Sam Shoemaker (from the Oxford Group)
I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out.
The door is the most important door in the world –
It is the door through which men walk when they find
God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there
when so many are still outside and they, as much as I, crave to know where the
door is and all that so many ever find Is only the wall where the door ought to
be. They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched, groping hands,
feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do Is to
take hold of one of those blind, groping hands and put it on the latch - the
latch that only
clicks and opens to the man's own touch.
Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die on
cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter. Die for want of what is
within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they
have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it
and open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.
Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars, and way up
into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is. Go
into the deepest of hidden casements of withdrawal of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms and know the
depths and heights of God, and call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it
is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther, but my place
seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.
There is another reason why I stand there. Some people get part way in and become afraid
lest God and the zeal of His house devour them; for God is so very great and
asks all of us and these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia and want to get
out. 'Let me out!' they cry and the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they
are spoiled for the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened, who seek to sneak out just where they came
in, to tell them how much better it is inside. The people too far in do not see
how near these are to leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the
door would like to run away
So for them too,
I stand by the door.
I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was before
they got in. Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even
found the door or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and
forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, near
enough to God to hear Him and know He is there but not so far from men as not
to hear them,
And remember they are there too.
Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
'I had rather be a door-keeper
So I stand by the door.
From Henri Nouwen’s book “Gracias”:
“It is a privilege to have the time to practice this
simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire
to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive
project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences,
study groups and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is
difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and
not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder
more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat
and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let
them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them,
but truly love them.”
Blessings and love to you, dear friends!