Article October 16, 2000 Issue

Porters and bouncers

By Robert Dennison Wright

Are you a porter or a bouncer? Actually, it's likely you've had to play both roles at one time or another. Lots of people do. In fact, they've been doing so for a very long while.

In Old Testament times, porters protected the purity of Jewish temples. They were carefully chosen to oversee the gates of the house of the Lord and guard the treasures inside (see I Chron., chap. 9). Later, Jesus used the term porter, undoubtedly familiar to his Jewish listeners, when urging his followers to remain alert. He also told them, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (see Mark 13:34–37).

In today's world, there's still a need for alertness. And where you and I can act as porters is at the earliest possible moment of an encounter, the instant that something enters our thoughts—or tries to.

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