I recently attended the baptism of my nephew. Following the beautiful service, family and friends gathered at the local town hall to chat, dine, and simply enjoy each other's company. We had a long road ahead of us and were just beginning our goodbyes when we heard cries of help coming from down the hall. "Help! Get us out of here!" As we rushed to find out what happened, I soon found myself in panic mode as the realization hit that my son and nephew were trapped in an elevator and I could not get the door open. The boys screams and fear were escalating as they realized we could not get the door open either. I spoke softly to the boys trying to clam their fears. I reassured them that we would get them out of there, so there was no need for panic. As I was reassuring them, these same irrational thoughts were creeping uninvited into the corners of my mind. After offering up a prayer to my Father in my heart to keep the boys calm and help us get them out, I proceeded to push the elevator button several times, tried to pry the door open with my hands unsuccessfully, and was not sure what to do next. My brother-in-law spotted a hole in the door for a key and started searching for a key. Failing to find a key he changed the search for objects that would fit in the elevator keyhole. Nothing was quite long enough to reach the lock. Someone suggested we call the fire department as my husband tried to insert a long object into the keyhole. The door then suddenly slid open. We are still not sure how the door opened, the object my husband had attempted to unlock the elevator with again failed to be long enough. As the boys gratefully exited the elevator they had been trapped in, it was apparent that the elevator had stopped short of the floor as the bottom of the elevator was about six inches higher than the floor we were standing on.
After hugging the boys, grateful they were out, my sister turned to her son. She asked him if he had learned a lesson. This is the point where I learned that she knew the elevator had not been working correctly and had problems. She had warned her son early to stay out of the elevator because it was not working properly. Another cousin had been daring the boys to use the elevator, and the boys caved to the pressure. We learned that the boys prayed to their Heavenly Father to help them get out to the stuck elevator.
How many times in our lives are we "trapped in an elevator." We are warned of the dangers of sin, yet succumbing to pressure, we all, at times in our lives, find ourselves trapped in our own elevators. God warns us of the dangers of sin and just like a loving mother warning her child of a faulty elevator, God warns us of the dangers of sin. The good news is, if we find ourselves trapped, God is there to help us out of "the elevator" His love is unconditional. He is always there. :)
