Crowded…

Noisy…

People jamming around our restaurant table…

Shouting…

Crying

Laughing…

Raising their trophies in the air…

Their team has won the league championship.

The waitress leans close to hear our order…

Still we shout…

Adding to the noise…

Noise generating noise…

As everyone talks louder to be heard.

Noise filling the restaurant from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

Overwhelming noise…

Ear-ringing noise…

The noise in one small restaurant in one small corner of town.

I can’t wait to escape.

We walk outside.

The door closes behind us…

The absence of noise hits our senses like a like a physical force.

My wife and I stop…

Look at each other…

And take a deep breath.

Calm.

Peace.

Quiet.

What a relief to leave the noise behind…

If only it were always that easy to step away from noise…

To leave behind the noise of the world…

The noise of the world that invades our soul…

The noise of worry…

The noise of ego…

The noise of greed…

What door can we shut to block out those noises?

Could it be the door of doubt?

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Matthew 14:31

What door can we walk through to enter a world of peace?

The door of faith?

Faith in Christ and His promises…

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:27

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33

Faith in God…

And His work of grace…

Accomplished on the Cross of Christ…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16