“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1)

A woman from Missouri was startled out of a dead sleep one night by some desperate cries of “Help! Help!” At first, she thought perhaps her husband had cried out, but he was sleeping soundly next to her. Then suddenly she heard the cries again: “Help! Help!” Finally, she threw back the covers and headed downstairs toward their living room. “Help!” went the plaintive voice yet again.

“Where are you?” the woman replied. “In the fireplace,” came the rather shocking answer.

And sure enough, dangling in the fireplace with his head sticking through the flue was a burglar, upside down and quite snugly stuck! The police and fire department got him out eventually, though not before having to disassemble the mantle and some of the masonry. Perhaps the best part of the story was what this woman did in the meantime. She flipped on all the lights and videotaped the whole thing.

I don’t know what the two talked about while waiting for the police to arrive, but had I been she, I think I would have hauled out a Bible and given the crook a pointed reading of John 10: “Verily I tell you, anyone who does not enter by the door but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber!”

Copied from “Through the Gate”

by Scott Hoezee