Tending the Back Door

After almost a year of gently nudging the man of the house, honey-do list item #2 can get a big fat check! Our back door has officially been moved and we now have an open walkway between our kitchen and attic rooms. (Note: if you're not interested in how to move a door, skip down to the bottom where the real meat of the post is!)

This is where the door was before the move;

And this is the hallway space between the kitchen and the stairwell that leads up to the attic;

I've been wanting this door moved so that I could use the extra hallway space as a kitchen extension to hang our pots and pans. It would also allow us to walk straight upstairs to our two attic rooms without going through a locked door. Let me explain; this door acts as our back door- on the other side of it is the stairwell that goes not only up to our attic, but down to the first floor (which leads outside) and then to the basement. The door that actually leads outside is down on the first floor, and we share that with our neighbor.

So, Thane moved our locking back door to the top of the stairwell instead, directly to the right of the opening you see in the first pic. So, we still have a secure, functioning "back door", but it's no longer blocking our direct access to our two attic rooms. And if that wasn't complicated enough, just watch me try to show how incredibly easy (yet hard via photos) moving a door really is.

Here's the all too-unwilling man of the house, getting ready to knock this baby out without so much as a power drill or- by the grace of God- a single curse word.

See the little pin at the top of this hinge? It has to be lifted up and out, which can be done using a hammer and flat head screwdriver. Just wedge the flat head in the seam, and give it a few taps with the hammer to get it moving.

 

And out comes the pin!

Give that treatment to both hinges, and it's off with the door!

Now it's as simple as removing the existing hardware;

As well as re-moving the hinge plates;

And then re-installing all of it in the threshold of the new spot (if you plan on putting the door back up in another location).

This is the dead-bolt. We were fortunate that somebody else had already done this exact door-spot-switcheroo before, so hollowing out the hole for the dead-bolt was very easy (it was filled with caulk). Otherwise, we would have needed a drill to hollow it out.

 

Re-installing the hinge plates;

Then came the trickiest part, for which there is no photo; lining the door back up with the hinge plates so that the big hinge-nail can slide back in to secure the door. This took both of us (hence no photo). But once we were all lined up, it was as easy as just sliding the hinge-nails back in.

And now we have a full, unencumbered view of our not-so-fancy (army house) kitchen and then dining room. Notice the new-ish microwave cart to the right- my latest attempt at better kitchen organization.

And now for the meat. Right around the time I was coercing Thane to complete this honey-do task for me, I came to a sermon preached out of the gospel of Luke titled "Jesus and Demons" (I'm going through the entire series, and it's excellent). And this particular sermon on "doors" came in a timely fashion- just as we were moving our back door. Here's a quick synopsis; 

Sin is the opening of a "door". We either belong to God or Satan. If we are Christians, Satan does not own us, but we are still able to "open our doors" and invite demonic influence into our lives. And this is a checklist of common ways that we do this;

Doors of Demonic Influence

-Sexual sin (1 Corinthians 7:5)

-Marriage between Christians and non-Christians (2 Corinthians 6:15)

-False religion, false teaching, false Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:14-22; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4)

-Bitterness (Ephesians 4:17-5:2)

-Foolishness and drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18-21)

-Idle gossip and busybodying (1 Timothy 5:11-15)

-Lies (John 8:44)

-Idolatry (1 John 5:18-21)

I'm guilty of a good number of these things, and by the grace of God I have to constantly strive for obedience so that I'm tending my own doors. Not only for the sake of living within God's will (the most important thing), but for the sake of my family. They're affected by what I do every single day.

So I hope this list is just as helpful to you guys as it is to me. I need these constant reminders and warnings from the Word, to continually strive to put off the things of the world and be conformed to the image of Christ. Praise Jesus for His amazing provision- for His Spirit that allows us to live the lives He meant for us all along.

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