This week I have been blessed to spend time with my friends and family.  One story that was shared with me this week I would also like to share with you:

The week I was born, an announcement was made at church that Linda and Doug were at home with newly born twin boys.  Patt Spidel – a fellow member of this congregation – could barely contain her excitement when she heard the news!  Given Patt’s excitement, her husband Norm drove straight to our house after church to stop by and see us.

In retrospect, what follows is just too funny!  Patt was so upset with Norm for driving to our house that day.  Patt told me, “You don’t just drop by unannounced on a woman who just had a baby (let alone two babies)!”  Patt was angry and embarrassed but there wasn’t much she could do.  Norm was determined to stop by our house, and before she knew it, Norm had gotten out of the car and rang our doorbell.  My mother came to the door and invited Norm and Patt to come inside.

None of us knew at that moment, but all of our lives would significantly change from that day forward.  Beginning that week, Patt watched over me and my brother while my parents worked until my first day of kindergarten.   Once we stated school, Patt would take care of us every summer.  When our family moved to Michigan, Patt would travel with us to help our family move in and get settled.  Currently, Patt helps take care of my grandparents daily in their old age.  Patt even continues to support me individually as the second largest financial supporter of my ministry here at Loyola.  If I could bestow the title of superwoman to a single individual, that person would hands down be Patt Spidel.

Patt has been such a blessing to me and my entire family and I am so grateful to God for her constant love and support.  I am so grateful that even though it may not have been polite just to drop by our house unannounced that Patt and Norm stopped by anyhow.  This is encouraging to me because I can always come up with excuses not to do something.  There are reasons why I haven’t asked the young woman I admire out on a date, reasons why I haven’t yet applied to seminary, reasons why I haven’t read my Bible as often as I should, and the list goes on…

I think that sometimes (maybe most all the time) God is waiting on us to be bold and chase after the desires of our heart.  If you really want to take care of twin boys, go and ring their doorbell before somebody else does.  Maybe that’s rude, maybe that’s crazy, but maybe God will answer your prayer because of your boldness (See Matthew 8:5-13)?   And maybe if you struggle being bold, God will send a friend, a stranger, or an angel that will go ahead of you and ring that doorbell anyhow?  Regardless of who rings the doorbell, I believe it’s up to all of us to decide whether or not we walk through the door that God has called us to walk through.   I’m thankful for Norm who rang my parent’s doorbell and also for Patt who walked through our door.  I pray that I would have the boldness to walk through the doors that God has placed before me.  I pray that you would have the courage to step through the doors that God has placed before you.  And I also pray for boldness in knocking on doors on behalf of our neighbors; that we would come and walk alongside them, and that we might witness to them as they unlock the doors that God has called them to open.

-Alec Kenny

12/21/15