We really had not had time to pay much attention to the things that were hanging on the walls. Unpacking, dealing with contractors and applying for permits, and struggling to find the doctors we needed so that our medications would not run out took up all of our time. One Wednesday afternoon we had a power flash during a thunderstorm. Although things came right back on, we suddenly heard a bee-bee-bee-bee-beep. "What was that?" we wondered, but it stopped, at least for a moment. Then it began again, and again, and again, every couple of minutes. So we walked around the house, looking. Actually, I did. A deaf man wasn't really much use when it came to hearing something and telling where it came from.
Finally, I found it—the beeps were coming from a small box on the wall by the garage access door. "ADT" it said on the side of the box in small letters. But how was this happening? We weren't paying a bill, the previous owners were gone and they weren't paying one. It should have been shut off, right? Understand, we had lived in the country where a gated fence, a roving dog, and a shotgun were our security. We had never dealt with an actual security company or their equipment.
Yet I knew this thing had to be turned off some way or I would never be able to sleep through the beeps that night. Keith started punching buttons. Finally, the beeping stopped. But one red light stayed on. What's this? I leaned really close and right next to the light was the tiny word, "Armed." But how? No one is paying this bill. It has to be cut off. And the beeping was gone.
It was Wednesday evening and we were ready to walk out the door to Bible study. We were still parking in the driveway at that point rather than in the garage—the garage boxes were yet to be unpacked and the shelves were not yet up. So we opened the front door. And the loudest screeching siren I had ever heard began to wail. Even with the door closed the neighbors could hear it. Five houses down. So we went back in, covering our ears and yelling at each other trying to be heard over the din.
A few days before, an actual ADT salesman had come to our door. We asked him to come back in about a month, but took his card for reference. I found the card and called his number. It's a wonder he didn't hang up as I screamed over the phone telling him what had happened, but he undoubtedly heard the racket behind my voice. He gave me a number to call.
The woman who answered had an accent so thick that it was difficult to understand her. Add that to the siren and we did not make much progress as I yelled what had happened and asked her what to do. "What did you say? What did you say?" Go do this. Go do that. I had already done this and that. She told me something else after that I simply could not get. "I can't understand you," I hollered. Then she began a string of omgs that did not help the situation at all, and hung up on me!
So I called back. This time I got a nice young man who spoke clearly and we actually made some progress. He was horrified at our situation. "Let me get you to our tech people. They will come out and take care of you." Relief flooded me as I waited to be transferred. And waited and waited and waited. For 25 minutes I sat on hold. Somewhere along the way, the siren stopped. Maybe it has a time limit? Whatever, I was thrilled. But once again we had the "Bee-bee-bee-bee-beep" every couple of minutes. When I finally got through, this lady's small accent was easy to navigate without the ear-splitting claxon horning its way in. I explained the problem. She, too, went through the do this and do that business. Already done, I said, but we still have this incessant beeping.
"Well, I'm sorry, but since you aren't ADT customers we can't help you."
I was stunned. "And what should I do about this beeping which is going to keep me awake all night long?"
"Don't you have some ear plugs?"
Is she kidding, I wondered? But no, she meant it. I took a deep breath. "This is your equipment that is causing all this trouble. Don't you want someone to come get it?"
"No. You are not our customers."
Another deep breath. "Well, ma'am. Take a good guess at what we will never be after this experience?"
We texted our realtor asking if he could possibly reach the previous owners and get the code. If the siren could still wail, maybe it would still take the code. Then while we waited, knowing he was at Bible study himself, which we had missed by then, but hoping he had gotten the text that late anyway, Keith stacked boxes next to the wall, then stacked towels up to the box and covered it with every towel and blanket we could find and when we went to bed, we shut the bedroom door. I did manage to sleep that night, and the next morning before 8, our phone dinged with the code—it worked. And now Keith has completely removed the box from the wall since we also finally found out how to kill the thing.
Security is a big deal these days. Home security, cybersecurity, national security. And spiritual security. Unfortunately, many of my brothers and sisters have fought false doctrine so long that they no longer feel secure in their Father's hands. They deal with anxiety and fear on a level that often requires medication because they do not trust God to save them. Someone might think they are closet Calvinists, they seem to think. How many times do we have to say it? Get off the pendulum. You can feel saved. You can even know you are saved. And there is nothing arrogant, boastful, or Calvinistic about it.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1Pet 1:3-5).
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25).
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life (1John 5:13).
Do you not trust God to do what He says He will in these passages? Because that is what it amounts to when you doubt your salvation. Either you have good reason to doubt it because you are actively participating in an ongoing sin, or you just don't believe God.
And here, perhaps, the most comforting passage of all: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand (John 10:28-29). Don't misunderstand; if you want God to let you go, he will open his hand and let you walk right out, but if you want salvation more than anything else in your life and have committed that life to Him every waking moment, He will not let you down.
No need for ADT, or any other security company in the world.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2Pet 1:10-11).
Dene Ward