CROSSROADS CONNECTIONS (Part Two)

When our family was younger, Leslie and I and the kids traveled quite a bit.  We took lots of road trips.  When the kids were little, all six of us would pile into one motel room.  But as the kids got older they got bigger, they required more space.  So when we were out on the road and we needed to stop for the night we would often rent two motel rooms. I'd would stay with the boys and Leslie and Caitlin would stay together – or some variation on that theme, but the best set-up was when we were able to get “connecting rooms".  You know, two motel rooms, next to each other, that had a door in the wall between the rooms, connecting them together.  When we got rooms like that, we would open the door between the rooms and suddenly it was as if we were all in one much larger room together.  We had a unity that we lacked otherwise.

We could stay in two motel rooms right next to each other that didn’t connect, and have exactly the same amount of square footage.  In fact, absolutely everything about the experience was the same – except we didn’t do it TOGETHER, which made everything different.  When there was a door in the wall between the rooms, we were always happier, more secure, more peaceful, more content because we were CONNECTED to each other.  We were together.  We were…in unity.  That’s the whole purpose of being connected.

You know, some people have a hard time getting connected to others, because they grew up learning how to build walls and not doors.  Or they grew up seeing that there was a door in the wall, but it wasn’t open to them.  Or they saw an open door in the wall, only to have it slammed in their face as they tried to walk through.  Have that happen enough in your life; you see a door in the wall, and you don’t even try to open it because your experience tells you it’s going to be locked.  Or if you see a door in the wall open up, you don’t try to go through because your experience tells you that you’re just setting yourself up for another broken nose – as another door slams in your face.

For centuries religion has built walls too high to climb. Oh there were doors, but they were usually locked.  In fact, often, if the door was opened, it was only open long enough for someone to shout from the doorway, “We are righteous and you are a sinner – so we can’t have anything to do with you!” 

Jesus didn’t go through all He went through so people could remain separated from the Father.  And He sure didn’t intend for the church to be a place that discriminates against sinners.  ‘Cause if it was, no one would ever be able to go there. Jesus came into the world to connect people to God, not to blow people off because they didn’t measure up.  Jesus came to show the way to the Father.  He said of Himself that he was the way and that no man could come to the Father except through Him.  Jesus is the way, but the way isn’t protected by a locked door.  

You know what Crossroads is?  Crossroads is the place in the wall where the door used to be.  We took the door off its hinges.  You’re welcome to come in.  We have connecting rooms.  Let’s do LIFE together, in Christ.