Bible Reading: John 10:7-10
Ryan lay flat on his back in the cool green grass, watching the fluffy clouds floating across the sky above him. When he glanced over at the tall trellis covered with Grandma's rambling roses, he noticed it almost reached the small balcony with the slider door that led to the guest bedroom. Ryan scrambled to his feet and darted toward the house. I bet I can climb up to my room, he thought. He put his foot on a low trellis slat, pushed away a few roses, and began to climb. He stretched his arms, caught the balcony railing, and swung himself up. But before he could crawl over the railing, his foot slipped. He screamed, and the big pink roses zipped by as he fell to the ground.
"Ryan, can you open your eyes?" asked a faraway voice. "Can you hear me?"
Ryan blinked and slowly sat up. "What happened?" he asked.
"You had a bad fall," said Grandpa. "We need to take you to the emergency room to make sure you don't have a concussion."
After returning from the hospital with a clean bill of health, Ryan felt embarrassed about what he had done. "I wanted to climb onto the balcony to get into my room," he said. "I thought it would be more fun than just walking in through the door, but it wasn't fun at all!"
After dinner, Grandpa read from the book of John. "Your experience today reminded me of these verses," he said. "They say Jesus is the door to eternal life. We may think we can get to heaven by going to church, helping neighbors, giving money to charity, taking care of animals--doing all sorts of good things. But just like you couldn't get into your bedroom by climbing the rose trellis, none of us can get into heaven by doing good things."
"Right," said Grandma. "We can only get into heaven through Jesus. He is the door. Only He can save us from sin and give us eternal life."
Ryan nodded. "I didn't use the door when I tried to get into my room today, and that was a disaster. I'm glad I'm going through the door to heaven by trusting in Jesus!"
–Lois A. Teufel
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