Stairs to the Attic--And What Access Means

  Last week Jonathan, Tim, Danny and I spent several more days working on our house in South Dakota.

Jonathan had kept tabs on the weather and saw that last week was supposed to be up in the high 30s or 40, and decided we'd come up to South Dakota and try to get some more work done on the house.

We took along propane and stayed at night in the 5th wheel travel trailer, where I also made our meals and hung out, trying to stay warm. 

Meanwhile, Jonathan and the boys set several windows and doors.  

 Every window and door set meant less cold and wind and snow going through the house this winter!

Jonathan had gotten this basement sliding door on clearance somewhere.

But what I was most excited about was stairs finally going in, so that we could get up and down between floors without having to go around outside or figure out a way to climb up the wall!  

The stairs from the hall to the attic went in first.

Wow! Now I could climb up and see the attic and watch Danny as he laid OSB floor all by himself!

"Wow!" I thought. "Finally we have access to the attic!"  

And then the boys and Jonathan built a landing and set the two sets of steps for the stairs from the first floor to the basement. 

And "Wow!" I thought. "Now we can finally reach upstairs or downstairs in seconds, now that we have stairs."

Finally there was access. Access. 

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ...For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." Eph. 2:14, 18.

It is interesting to note that in this very passage, Paul uses metaphors of a building, or remodeling, you might say, of breaking down a wall of separation. But we get the same idea by going to a  house that is just being built that as yet has no stairs. You can't get up and you can't get down. You can't reach the kitchen from the basement unless you go outside and walk up the hill and come in the back door. Then you can't get from the laundry room to the basement without doing exactly the opposite. And you certainly can't reach the attic unless you climb the wall!

 And who could ever reach the roof without a ladder?

Jesus is our stairs to the Father, our ladder to God. Because of our sins, we were separated from God. We couldn't reach Him. But Jesus became our set of stairs, our ladder, our wonderful way of access. We have but to climb that Ladder between earth and heaven to quickly reach our heavenly Father!

Lord, by the stairs and the ladder of the name of Jesus, we come to You this evening in worship, adoration, and prayer! Thank You for being our access to God. When our sins kept us from Him, thank You for loving us more than we deserved and providing a way for us to reach God! Thank You for coming down that first Christmas and setting the first rung in the ladder, the first step in the staircase to God and heaven.

We love you, Jesus!