During the six months process of building our dream home, I compiled a list of accessories and odd furniture pieces I wanted for the new house.\u00a0 I needed something for the fireplace mantle, some more lamps, a desk chair, patio furniture and an area rug.\u00a0 For our library nook of floor-to-ceiling bookcases, I wanted a freestanding library ladder.<\/p>\n
Most of the items were not too difficult to find on sale or through friends who looked for me as they themselves shopped in antique or furniture stores\u2014except for the library ladder.\u00a0 The new library ladders were very expensive and ran along a track to be mounted on a tall, long wall of bookshelves.\u00a0 My library was a small corner of a room, but still, I wanted to be able to access the tallest shelves at ten feet.<\/p>\n
I had seen pictures of beautiful old, wooden ladders used in English libraries where the four or five steps were mounted around a pole.\u00a0 This I thought would be perfect — beautiful, unique, as well as easy to move around.\u00a0 Fortunately, I live in a town known for its quaint antique shops and I am a frequent shopper.\u00a0 We also live close to Dallas where the sources seemed endless.<\/p>\n
About three months into my search, I spotted such a ladder in a local antique store, One of a Kind<\/em>.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t a price on the piece so I asked Dave Christianson, the owner, what he wanted for the ladder.\u00a0 I tried not to seem too anxious, knowing an overly interested buyer can sometimes cause a price inflation, especially in an antique shop.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, that\u2019s not for sale.\u201d\u00a0 Dave replied, \u201cI just use it around here.\u201d<\/p>\n I was disappointed, but believed that his casual attitude meant that such ladders were probably around elsewhere and could be found somewhere in Dallas.<\/p>\n I started calling the long list of antique dealers from the huge Dallas Yellow Pages<\/em> and I asked at import and department stores, which I frequented.\u00a0 I could not find anyone who had seen such a ladder in years.\u00a0 The more hopeless it seemed the more determined I became.\u00a0 My husband said I was \u201cbeyond determined and into compulsive.\u201d<\/p>\n The ladder at One of a Kind<\/em> was not for sale, but I knew it was still there\u2014so close and yet so far from my possession.\u00a0 Every few weeks I would go back and try to talk Dave into selling the ladder.\u00a0 He would laugh when he saw me coming and we\u2019d joke in a friendly way about the ladder\u2019s value and availability.\u00a0 Mr. Christianson revealed that the ladder had sentimental value for him.\u00a0 He\u2019d had it a long time and he did use it every day.<\/p>\n \u201cBut wouldn\u2019t a new metal step ladder serve your purposes just as well?\u201d\u00a0 I argued.\u00a0 He promised to look for another library ladder for me as he was constantly buying for the shop from sources I could not access.<\/p>\n Finally in frustration a few weeks later, I volunteered, \u201cO.K., just name your price.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never known an antique dealer who didn\u2019t have his price.\u00a0 I\u2019m the customer you\u2019ve always dreamed of.\u00a0 Just name your price.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it\u2019s not for sale,\u201d Dave insisted. Once again, I left the store empty-handed.<\/p>\n I was returning from our building site the following week when my thoughts again turned to the library ladder. The workmen had just begun installing the bookcases in my library nook and I still had not found a suitable ladder.\u00a0 It was thirty minutes until closing time at One of a Kind<\/em> and I decided to try again.\u00a0 What could I possibly say that I hadn\u2019t said before?\u00a0 Maybe I could take a picture of the room and then Dave could see for himself how perfect the ladder would be in my home.<\/p>\n As I drove downtown, I passed by our church.\u00a0 I remembered a sermon our pastor had preached recently.\u00a0 All of a sudden I knew what I would say to Dave Christianson.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you read the Bible much?\u201d\u00a0 I asked him.\u00a0 Dave didn\u2019t answer but his smile encouraged me to go on.\u00a0 \u201cCould I tell you a Bible story?\u201d\u00a0 I asked politely.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cJesus told a story about two neighbors.\u00a0 In the middle of the night one of them received an unexpected guest. It was customary to offer food and drink to a visitor no matter when they arrived.\u00a0 The host had no bread left over from that day and had no way of getting any except to go and ask it from one of his neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies in that day slept all together in one room, on the floor with the father lying closest to the door.\u00a0 When the man seeking the bread knocked on his neighbor\u2019s door, he woke him.\u00a0 \u2018Go away,\u2019 the groggy man angrily whispered. \u2018You\u2019ll wake my family.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cA few minutes later the man returned.\u00a0 \u2018Do you have any bread left over?\u00a0 I must have it to give my guest.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Don\u2019t bother me.\u00a0 My children are asleep and the cupboard is on the other side of the room.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAgain and again the man returned until finally his neighbor got up.\u00a0 Jesus said that it was not because his neighbor was kind or wanted to do the right thing, but because of his friend\u2019s persistence that he eventually gave him what he wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n After a long pause, I looked into Dave\u2019s puzzled eyes and said, \u201cNow, I want you to know I\u2019m going to come down here every day until you sell me that library ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n Very slowly Dave replied.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I never thought I\u2019d ever make a sell for Jesus – – – but you can have the ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n Today my library is complete.\u00a0 People often ask me where I got such an unusual ladder. Now I have an occasion to tell them Jesus\u2019 parable of the persistent neighbor.\u00a0 The story is found in Luke 11 right after Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray what we call The Lord\u2019s Prayer<\/em>.\u00a0 Part of prayer is petition, and persistent petition seems to be encouraged and even rewarded.\u00a0 It certainly gave me a step up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the six months process of building our dream home, I compiled a list of accessories and odd furniture pieces I wanted for the new house.\u00a0 I needed something for the fireplace mantle, some more lamps, a desk chair, patio furniture and an area rug.\u00a0 For our library nook of floor-to-ceiling bookcases, I wanted a […] Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":745,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/janicebyrd.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}