Knock on the Door
The next morning, Mr. McCumber woke up Giffird by knocking on the bedroom door with a cane that he kept in the back of his wheelchair. The smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen was nearly heavenly. When Giffird sat down to enjoy the meal with Mr. McCumber, he asked the older man why he’d offered to help him. Mr. McCumber smiled and visibly sat up taller in his wheelchair.
“You really put a scare in my tenants,” he explained. “You knocked on Mildred’s door, and she quickly called me and told me to call the police, because you were trying to get into her apartment. No sooner did I hang up the phone, and it rang again. It was another tenant saying, ‘There’s a homeless man looking for a place to sleep.’ I hung up and was about to call the police when the phone rang a third time and another tenant told me a different, but similar story.”
“So, why didn’t you call the police?” Giffird asked, now even more curious. His kind host answered by telling him a story. When Mr. McCumber was a young boy, times were difficult, because he had lost his father at a very young age. As a boy, he took a job selling work boots door-to-door to help his mother buy food.
He said, “I asked myself, ‘who would have the courage and strength to knock door-to-door looking for a place to sleep, if that wasn’t all he wanted?’” Mr. McCumber said. “I told the LORD that if you knocked on my door, I would give you a place to sleep and help you get back on your feet.”
The next morning, Mr. McCumber woke up Giffird by knocking on the bedroom door with a cane that he kept in the back of his wheelchair. The smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen was nearly heavenly. When Giffird sat down to enjoy the meal with Mr. McCumber, he asked the older man why he’d offered to help him. Mr. McCumber smiled and visibly sat up taller in his wheelchair.
“You really put a scare in my tenants,” he explained. “You knocked on Mildred’s door, and she quickly called me and told me to call the police, because you were trying to get into her apartment. No sooner did I hang up the phone, and it rang again. It was another tenant saying, ‘There’s a homeless man looking for a place to sleep.’ I hung up and was about to call the police when the phone rang a third time and another tenant told me a different, but similar story.”
“So, why didn’t you call the police?” Giffird asked, now even more curious. His kind host answered by telling him a story. When Mr. McCumber was a young boy, times were difficult, because he had lost his father at a very young age. As a boy, he took a job selling work boots door-to-door to help his mother buy food.
He said, “I asked myself, ‘who would have the courage and strength to knock door-to-door looking for a place to sleep, if that wasn’t all he wanted?’” Mr. McCumber said. “I told the LORD that if you knocked on my door, I would give you a place to sleep and help you get back on your feet.”