NOVEMBER 19, Matthew 7:7

All the way home from school, Caleb worried about how he’d get into the house. “Maybe Mom will be home from work early today,” he thought. But when he reached home, Mom’s car wasn’t in the driveway. “Oh, well. Sarah will be here in a minute,” Caleb decided. “She’ll have the key.” As expected, his sister soon arrived. Caleb greeted her eagerly. “Do you have your house key?” he asked. “I forgot mine.”

Sarah shook her head. “I forgot mine too! Isn’t Mom home?” “No,” said Caleb with a sigh. “Maybe a side window is unlocked. Let’s check.” They did, but none of those windows would open. “Let’s try this kitchen window,” Caleb said. Locking his hands together, he held them out. “The window’s too high to reach from the ground, but this will make a step for you.” But when Sarah tried to step up on his hands, they gave way and both kids fell. As they got to their feet, Mom’s car pulled into the driveway.

“Oh, good! Here’s Mom,” said Sarah, but Mom didn’t get out of the car. As Caleb and Sarah brushed themselves off, a man walked to the side door and knocked! He waved to them as he waited. They recognised he was Jerry, the mechanic, from a nearby service station where Mom often took her car to, whenever it had a problem.

To the kids’ surprise, Mom opened the door. “Thanks, Jerry,” she said as he handed her the car keys. “You seem to have a way with that car. I’ll give you a lift back to the service station.” She turned to Sarah and Caleb, who had hurried up. “Hi, kids. You’re home a little late today. What have you been up to?” she asked. Caleb and Sarah looked at one another and began to laugh. “Neither of us had the key, so we were trying to break in because we thought nobody was home!” explained Sarah. “It didn’t occur to us to knock and find out for sure.”

Mom smiled. “That reminds me of the verse at the end of the devotional story we read this morning,” she said. “Remember it?” “Yeah. It says, Knock and it shall be opened unto you,’” quoted Sarah promptly. “Too bad we didn’t think to knock on the house door.”

Mom laughed. “That would have saved you some trouble,” she agreed.

Thought: Have you thought to knock? That’s a word Jesus used when He was talking about asking God for what you need.

Prayer: This is such a precious lesson, Heavenly Father, that I will always turn to You in prayer. Sometimes I miss out on blessings just because I don’t even think to pray! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.