Manzanita Bob, the Doorkeeper

I came across this verse recently during an early morning bible study time. I found it shortly after I learned a new process to medidate on a verse. You probably know this, but to me it was a revelation in understanding God's word more intimately in my life.
Anyway, I took a verse that spoke to me that morning, wrote it down and carried it with me during the day. As the day went on and I read the verse countless times, certain words in the verse caught my attention and "stuck out".
Let's look at the verse and I'll share with you what "stuck out" for me.

"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of the wicked."
Psalm 84:106

Woo-wee, reverse this and that's been most of my life, "dwelling in the house of the wicked".
Thank you Jesus for your love as this is no longer true!

First, the beginning part of the verse caught my attention, "I would rather be a". This tells me I have a choice. I'm choosing to "be" what God is describing in the verse. There is a decision point in this sentence. If that's true, then what am I choosing to be for God?

A doorkeeper. This is the word I spent most of the day meditating. I determined this "job" entails quite a few responsibilities;
greeter (Invites others into the house of God.),
host (Helps visitors feel welcome and shows them where to go in the house.),
protector (Watches for wolves in sheep clothing. This reminds me of my Pastors and brothers at church.),
works for God (Doesn't stand idle.),
lives with God (They are the doorkeeper to the house.),
and they obey the homeowner. (God)

My family and I spent a couple summers in a beautiful little town called Manzanita located on the Oregon coast. Though it has sprawled with new housing, it is still quaint and at the time had one grocery store, a gas station, and a few tourist stores. We would spend every chance we got on the beach. This is where we met Bob.
Bob would come out around 10am when the fog had burned off the beach. Towing with him countless large shovels, buckets, sand toys, and water spritzing bottles. Many more items than anyone person needed to build a sandcastle. As Bob hauled these items from his car, as this took many trips back and forth, people would start to gather to see what it was he would build. I shouldn't write people, I should write kids. Beautiful open-hearted, adventurous, curious kids.
With a gleam in his eye and an inviting smile, Bob would then invite them to help him build a sand castle. They could help as long as they wanted to and for as long as their parents said it was ok.
"What kind of castle?" "What should it look like?" "How do we begin?"
Gently and kindly, Bob would answer each question the same, "We start by building a moat and piling the sand from the moat in the middle. Then you all decide what the castle should look like and build it. And there doesn't have to be one castle. And the moat doesn't have to be round. It can wind its way with curves and bends."
Of course, the parents of the children helping Bob would venture over to see who their kids were talking to and what they were doing. "Are they bothering you?" they'd ask.
"Oh, no," Bob would say. "I need the help. Would you like to take a shovel and work on the castle too?" Most times the sand castle building would include a few families who were there on vacation and would never have met had Bob not shown up on the beach.
As the children, adults, and Bob would build the castle, people would ask Bob why he did this everyday. Bob would then share his love for Jesus and hand them a Billy Graham track. As I watched Bob evangelize, he would usually learn about the person first, and through his loving way, create trust with the person so they could share their heart and what was happening in their life. Then Bob knew what prayer was needed for that person.
This was Bob's mission field to share the love of Christ with people on the beach. Bob was a "doorkeeper".
Bob had the gift of greeting people where they were, not labeling them for where they were not. He also had the gift of being a host. Telling people how to begin a sandcastle and engaging them in easy conversation to learn who they were and then telling them how much God loves them. Mostly, Bob lived with God, worked for God, and obeyed the "homeowner", God.
Each year became an exciting time to see if Bob would still be on the beach. As we came to know him we learned his wife was unable to come to the beach with him. She was aging and needed to stay in Portland. But as long as Bob could, he would come to the beach, build sandcastles, attract kids, where their parents would come meet Bob, and God would then give Bob the opportunity to share HIS love with the people on the beach.