In Through the Out Door

  A few years ago, I was sitting home watching "America's Dumbest Criminals." I guess that I was bored and I wanted to feel better about myself and the various decisions I've made, so it made perfect sense to watch live videos of people who get caught doing really dumb things.
   In this episode, they played a security camera video of a bank robber somewhere out west. He did everything right at first. He disguised his face, walked up to the teller, demanded cash, grabbed the money, and headed out of the bank lobby into a glass vestibule leading to the outside world. The police hadn't yet arrived, and he was on his way to freedom. For all intents and purposes, he had pulled off the perfect crime and was about to get away with it.
   Then it happened. He pushed on the glass door leading outside, and it wouldn't open. He pushed harder. He kicked it. He lowered his shoulder into it. Still nothng. In his frustration, he began to slam his body against the door, assuming that the bank employees had locked him in the vestibule. Having no luck, he went to the door leading back into the bank lobby and began pushing on that door. It wouldn't open either. For the next few minutes, he became like a crazy person, beating on the glass with his fists, then running a few steps and launching his body into the glass, trying to break out of the trap he now found himself in. He eventually just gave up, accepting the fact that he had been outsmarted by the tellers who had apparently locked him inside of this glass cage with no way to escape. He walked to a corner, sat down, and waited for the police to arrive, knowing that he had no other choice.
   When the police arrived, the first officer on the scene drew his weapon. Then, to everyone's amazement, he simply pushed the door open from the outside. As it turned out, the doors were never locked. The bank robber had simply failed to notice the sign by the handle that said "Pull."
   Laugh if you will, but how many times do we all do the very same things in our lives? We find ourselves in situations where we feel trapped. We see circumstances that we want changed. Although we are powerless to change them. For days, weeks, months, and even years, we throw our bodies against those circumstances that have become doors and walls placed in our way. Just as the robber did, we look out through the glass and see what it is that we want, or where we want to be. Our vision becomes locked upon what we see instead of what we're being shown. Sometimes the answer is to just look at the signs that have been placed in front of us to guide us. A simple "push" or "pull"  sign that, while it looks very simple from the outside, does us no good if we refuse to see it.
   Sometimes all it takes is to calm down, take a deep breath, and look around for these signs. Other times, we have no choice but to sit back, rest, and wait for God to step up and open the doors for us.
   While we all become impatient at times, having faith that God knows what He's doing and that He is the only one who has the power to open those doors is the difference between feeling trapped and feeling free. Between feeling frustrated and exhausted, or feeling a sense of confidence that we are where we are for a reason.