{"id":3281,"date":"2024-01-04T08:15:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2024-01-04T08:15:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:15:59","slug":"open-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/04\/open-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,<\/em> click here<\/a>
 
Just before the 1975 fall semester kicked off at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the dean was literally on his knees.
 
William Kerr was praying that Andrew Lincoln, a distinguished British Bible Scholar, could somehow be granted a visa to come teach at GCTS.  A mountain of red tape stood in the way.
 
All of a sudden, the obstacles disappeared. 
 
Lincoln flew across the Atlantic to Boston, where he began a four-year residency that ultimately helped transform a number of his students.
 
One of them was Timothy Keller, who launched Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan 14 years later.  Keller went on to become one of the most impactful church leaders of his generation.  On several occasions he acknowledged that Lincoln\u2019s teaching at Gordon-Conwell reshaped the entire direction of his life and ministry.
 
On July 9, 1989 \u2013 during one of his first sermons at Redeemer \u2013 Keller looked back on the circumstances that brought the British scholar into his life. 
 
\u201cAt the last minute somebody cut through the red tape,\u201d he told his listeners.  \u201cHe came, and I fell under his influence.  Do you know why the red tape was cut?\u201d
 
It turns out that while William Kerr was on his knees, a student named Mike Ford walked into his office.  He asked the dean what he was praying for.  Kerr reported his fervent hope that somehow, through some extraordinary circumstance, Andrew Lincoln\u2019s visa might be approved before the start of the school year. 
 
Ford replied that maybe he could help with that.  His father, after all, was President Gerald Ford, the current occupant of the White House. 
 
As Tim Keller tells the story, the red tape suddenly vanished.  All because one of the president\u2019s kids walked into the dean\u2019s office.  And why was Gerald Ford president?  It was because Richard Nixon had resigned.  And why had Nixon resigned?  Because of the Watergate scandal.  And how had that scandal been brought to light?  It happened when a security guard in the Watergate building noticed that an office door was ajar, when it should have been tightly closed. 
 
Because of God\u2019s providence \u2013 his supervision of the myriad details of human history, even the ones that seem utterly trivial \u2013 an open door would one day lead to many more open doors.
 
An unlikely series of events provided the redirection of Tim Keller\u2019s life.  Keller\u2019s ministry not only accomplished the birth of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the heart of New York City, but launched a network that at last count has yielded 756 new urban congregations around the world. 
 
Along the way, Keller\u2019s books and sermons have positively impacted countless lives. 
 
Including my own.   <\/em>
 
God continues to use Tim\u2019s writings to shape my head and my heart, even though I never had the chance to meet him before he left us last spring. 
 
Sometimes, when you come before God in prayer, do you wonder if he\u2019s really listening?  Do you struggle to see how he can possibly provide what you need?
 
It may be, in light of God\u2019s providence, that our most fervent prayers were actually answered years ago. 
 
We just don\u2019t know it yet. <\/em>
 
The author of the Bible\u2019s last book describes Jesus as the One \u201cwho is holy and true, who holds the key of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open\u201d (Revelation 3:7).
 
May God grant that we have eyes to see that he is miraculously opening new doors for us every day in this new year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Just before the 1975 fall semester kicked off at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the dean was literally on his knees. William Kerr was praying that Andrew Lincoln, a distinguished British Bible Scholar, could somehow be granted a visa to come teach at GCTS.  A mountain of red tape stood in the way. All of a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[351],"class_list":["post-3281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-providence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3284,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions\/3284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}