Pulling back the Iron Curtain to view real life behind that Iron Curtain...
The pounding on the door seemed urgent. (But wait; let us back up in the series.)
Part One: The Night Mr. Vice President Came to Visit
Part Two: Feeling Like a Failure
Now, Part Three in one family's story of life behind the Iron Curtain:
Mommy Does Not Talk Through the Bathroom Door
The pounding on the door seemed urgent. Early in my journey of motherhood, I established a simple rule: Mommy does not talk through the bathroom door. This day, in spite of the knocking, I held fast to my decree.
The presence on the other side of the door attempted to dismantle my principle, but I refused to waver. Mommy does not talk through the bathroom door.
When the little fist refused to stop, I finally relented, and spoke. “What is it you need? You know Mommy does not talk through the bathroom door.”
The response startled me. “Mommy, I want to talk about what that man said.” The gentle voice of my little boy let me know this would not be an ordinary conversation. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know, the man that came here and talked about scuba diving?”
The man he referred to was Mr. Vice President. The evening he mentioned was the infamous crisis -riddled night. “He talked about how to go to heaven. What did he mean?”
Emerging from the bathroom, I met the sincere eyes of a small, inquisitive child. “That man who talked about scuba diving, talked about heaven. What did he mean?” His genuine questions held eternal significance.
Shifting gears and putting aside an overloaded to-do list, my son and I sat quietly and conversed. I embraced the divine appointment to share further of the glorious message of Jesus, how He died on the cross to pay for our sins.
Our earlier dinner guest—committed to being a fisher of men—indeed, spoke in our family devotional about scuba diving. But he also spoke clearly about God’s love and Jesus' death on the cross, and the invitation to know Him and go to heaven.
So apparently, while I managed a crisis downstairs involving shrimp in the kitchen and managed a crisis upstairs involving goldfish in an aquarium, God was at work watering the seeds sown in the heart of this young boy. My, my, imagine that.
Now, on this quiet 1984 April afternoon in communist Warsaw, Poland, the anointed words Mr. Vice President invested were coming to fruition. A young boy whose parents were undercover missionaries living behind the Iron Curtain persistently sought the Savior.
A few more days would pass before—in the midst of yet another crisis—the little fellow would indeed bow his head and ask Jesus into his heart.
[That will be Part Four.]
Living with Eternal Intentionality™
Often, the opportunity to share the gospel comes at an inconvenient moment. When have you experienced this to be the case?
