His bed is 6 feet in the air on a motorcycle lift to assist with the blood flow from his body down to the re-oxygenation chamber of the ECMO circuit. I am standing on a metal staircase.

We were afforded the privilege of having two of the young men from our Peru team this summer spend Saturday night at our home. They are the age he would be. Many others came to visit with us. Our home was filled with laughter as they got caught up with each other, and wrestled on the floor. The sounds and moments delighted us.

A crazy thing happened amidst all of it. Very early Sunday morning, Deanna awoke and could not go back to sleep. Unbeknownst to me, she decided to get up and go to a 24 hour grocery. All I remembered was she was up in what seemed like the middle of the night.

Not long after that, I was startled awake by my cell phone ringing. The problem was, it was ringing in the living room, next to where our two visitors slept. I jumped from bed and raced down the hall. Grabbed my phone, and of course, it said I had a "missed call."

As I wiped the sleep from my eyes trying to figure out who had the audacity to call me at this hour, I began to hear knocking...loud knocking. I did a 360 degree turn where I stood (ballerinas would have been proud of my pirouette). Where was this coming from?

I raced back down the hall toward my room...all the doors were ajar...no reason to knock. Then I thought maybe the guys somehow got locked into the room they were sleeping in, so I raced back down the hall the other direction. Their door was slightly cracked open.

More knocking...impatient in intensity this time. Half asleep and fully agitated, I did another 360. What in the world was going on?

I raced back down the hall to Lauren's room. Her door was not latched, but I opened it anyway to hear her say, "What is that knocking?"

"I don't know, I can't find where it is coming from!"

Then I heard it again! My mind is racing, but I am clueless.

Then again...this time it sounds like it is coming from my room?!

I enter the room and shoot glances to the open closet door and bathroom doors.

What?

More knocking!!!

I rush over to the window, somehow thinking that if I get there quickly the incessant noise will cease.

I pull open the blind, and there stands my beloved. I cannot hear a word she is saying, but she is showing me a key with very large and animated gestures (in typical Deanna fashion). She is trying hard to tell me something...I think I have it figured out.

Unknowingly, she has been chasing me all over the house in the wee hours of the morning. She could not have known my cell phone was in a different area of the house. She came to where she thought I was and began to knock (and drive me insane...I know, not a far trip).

I hurry to the front door and let her in.

She begins to tell me the story.

She could not sleep so decided to be productive and go grocery shopping. She grabbed the key she thought was for the car parked farthest back (all were blocked in, except for Lauren's), which did not have a garage door opener in it, and headed out. She hit the button to close the garage door and ran to beat it.

Once outside, she realized she had the wrong key...and no house key! She could not re-enter the house without waking me up. So, she tried...and tried. She could not figure out what was taking me so long to come to the window. She knows I don't sleep that soundly.

She had no way of knowing I was running from one end of the house to the other trying to figure out what was happening.

I can't help but realize that many lost people have this experience when the Holy Spirit begins to communicate with them. They hear the knocking, but don't know how or where to turn to answer the door...at least not initially (Rev 3:20 says "Behold I stand at the door and knock...")

Praise God that He makes His ways known to us!!!

dad