Gate Crashers I live in a gated community. I pastor a church in a gated community. I had trouble wrapping my mind around that concept before I came to pastor White Bluff Chapel. Churches don't hide behind gates was my reasoning. Churches are "out there," open to all, working along side the common man. How can a church function with New Testament conviction when you have to pass through a security guard to get in? The curtain in the temple was torn in two at Jesus' crucifixion to tear down racial, religious, gender, and class barriers to God and one another. It seems at first glance to go against the current of kingdom mission to live behind gates. The leadership of the church assured me that the gate was no barrier to church attendance or ministry performance and mission. I trusted them and believed. I have come to see the truth of their convictions over the past few months and see how diligent the Chapel works to see that much goes out that gate in terms of resources spent, effort exerted, food shared, and service rendered. But I still eyed warily that gate at the entrance, living at an uneasy peace with it. Then I discovered something else inside the gates: people. There are people here who need the Lord who have yet to come to know Him as Savior. There are people here who need to grow in their faith and service to Christ. There are people here with great hearts, talents, and resources who live to serve their Lord. With these kinds of people in White Bluff, what should be the response of the church at large and the local church in particular? The bottom line is we need to be in White Bluff sharing the gospel, growing in the grace, knowledge and service in the kingdom. And so we are. There is another observance about the gate at the entrance. This came as no surprise, however. We have way too many gate crashers at White Bluff. I don't blame the security personnel. I don't blame the management or the property owners association. I know of no way to keep out some of these unwanted visitors. They pay no attention to the gate or the rules. They show up uninvited, unwanted, and almost never leave when you ask. Who are these interlopers? They have different names. Some are called disease, illness, sickness. Some of these are short-timers, some move in to stay. I've seen cancer crash the gate. I've seen Alzheimer's run around the barriers. From colds to colostomies the family of unhealth pours through the gates and over the fences to bring their poisons to our families. It's not just illness, either that crashes our fences. Divorce finds its way past our defenses. Children and grandchildren's issues ring our doorbells. Lately, many people's finances fell more often that the putts on the golf courses. And as too many know, death comes over the covered bridge, past the retaining walls, tramps on pretty yards, and invades homes simple and extravagant. Life crashes our gates and you can't stop it. But fortunately it's not just the bad side that comes on in. Grace dances right past the guards. Hope floats on the lake, in the pools and into the homes. Forgiveness comes into the bedrooms and living rooms and love has yet to discover its boundaries. So it seems to me that since these gate crashers, both good and bad are here, its best to prepare for them. We do that by asking the Lord who brings down barriers but won't crash the heart, to please come in. Once asked, He gives strength to the weak, binds up the wounds of the broken hearted , grants freedom to those imprisoned by doubt and hurt, and helps us to share His goodness. There is another place with gates we do well to take note of. It is found in Revelation 21: 22-27. There is a difference in our gates now, but there won't be forever. Hear the promise of that city where on no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it...but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. In the meantime we live a crash course in life but we need not live it alone. The Christ and His church are here, within our gates and without, which is right where we all live. And we who have been invaded in turn invade this life with His grace, love and joy. 'Till all the gates are open, Terry