Up on the Roof

Occasionally as a child my dad would take me with him to work late on Fridays. Beside my dad’s business was a drive-in movie theater. There was a 8 ft. high wooden fence around the drive-in to keep rascals out. I never did go in and watch a movie but I saw a handful of movies from the roof of dad’s shop. I really had no other chance of seeing what was going on the other side of the fence unless I could see over it. The roof gave me a clear view of the screen, patrons and activity that was a mystery to me otherwise. I could hear the cars, voices and audio of the movie but could not make sense of it all without an elevated position.

There were a few Friday nights that I just sat and listened with electric curiosity. But one Friday, while dad was engrossed in his work, I could stand the mystery no longer. I walked around the shop scraping and foraging for something that would help me see over the fence. There it was in the weeds, grown over and hidden an old ladder that had been used to fix the sign at the shop. I dug it out and stood it up next to the building but it wasn’t tall enough to get me on the roof. It was tall enough to get me on top of the big box truck that was parked next to the shop. From there I was able to step over on the roof. My heart raced as I ascended the slope of the roof to the peak. Little by little the mystery that was behind the fence was revealed to me as I climbed higher.

What is God doing in your life to give you an elevated position? Have you sought hard for the ladder hidden in the weeds? A broken body, a pile of bills, a damaged marriage, personal doubts, a devilish onslaught, a wayward child or a haunting past all are just rungs on the ladder of God’s grace. God cannot reveal to you the thing he is doing unless you attain to a higher place. Take your particular trial, struggle or event of pain and step up on it by faith. Own it and use it to go where no man has been. The view is spectacular and pleasant to the soul. And you will begin to make sense of some things that otherwise are but a mystery. The fence to God’s drive-in is not to keep the rascals out as much as it is to make His children ascend to a higher place in order to know more of Him.

K