key stories

I don't know about you, but I have a problem with keys and cell phones. Yesterday, I walked down 3 flights of stairs then out into the heat to my car. When I got into my car, I reached for my cell phone to call home and guess what? My cell phone was still on my desk. This has happened a number of times before, so I got out of the car and reversed the above procedure to retrieve my phone. Funny thing, as I was sitting in the car, I thought about calling Pat and asking her to bring my cell phone down to me!

Keys are even more of a problem. Here's my latest key story.

It was late June, 2008 and Houston was hot and humid. I left work a few minutes early to try to get a jump on the afternoon traffic. As I walked toward my car, I hit the automatic door opener and didn’t see the lights on my car flash. I kept clicking as I walked toward the car realizing that something was wrong.

A few months before, I had left my interior light on at the airport parking garage and when I returned a few days later, my battery was dead. Believing this had happened again, I sat down on the hot curb and called Triple AAA for assistance. They told me that help would arrive in an hour.

I walked back into the church and called home to tell Johnny I would be late coming home. As we were talking I said that I might need a new battery because even the key wouldn’t open the door. I made myself comfortable and called a friend to tell her of my predicament. While we were talking, someone rang in on my cell phone and seeing that the call was coming from inside the building I took the call.

It was my Assistant, Pat. By now it was 5 p.m. and Pat should have been on her way home. Pat said, “I’ve lost my keys.” I shared with Pat that my battery was dead and that I was still in the building too. Pat said that she had made 3-4 trips up and down the stairs and had looked in every place she had been all day. Giving up, she had called her son Terry to drive to her house and pick up her other set of keys
As Pat was telling me that this would probably take another two hours, my mind went back to my dead battery. Remembering the last time my battery was dead and I was still able to open the car with the keys, I began looking inside my purse. Sure enough, I had two sets of keys and shared the news with Pat.

She quickly hung up saying, “I’ve got to call Terry so he doesn’t drive to my house.” I called Triple AAA and cancelled my service call and walked to the stairs I knew Pat would be coming down to give her her car keys. I heard her heels clacking down the stairs, but I was not prepared for what I saw when the door opened.

Here was Pat carrying a huge crystal bowl full of other items. She had both arms wrapped around it like she was carrying a beach ball. She said, “This has nearly killed me carrying this bowl up and down the stairs." We started laughing and laughed all the way home talking about our adventure on our cell phones.

What have I learned from this adventure?

Things Are Not Always As They Seem

Even though this was a set of Toyota keys that looked a lot like mine, they were not able to open my door. Leading a FP4H class is much like this. There is a key that will unlock the heart of each member in your class but it takes time to learn what that key is. A problem with weight is hardly ever the only problem we, or our members, have. Only by getting to know our members will we find the key to help them succeed.

The right key is the only one that will unlock the door.

Pat’s key was never going to unlock the door of my car. Only the right key unlocks the door. We must never forget that Jesus is the key that will unlock all the doors of our heart. We and our members have doors of unforgiveness, self-hatred and rebellion that only Jesus can unlock to make us whole.

Do any of you have any good cell phone or key stories to share?