Reflections From Sunday Evening

One of the recent concepts in our time is "chatter". Chatter has been part of my vocabulary for many years. In little league baseball we were told to "chatter". Hey batter, hey batter, hey batter...swiiiing batter! (Maybe that was Ferris Buhler's Day Off). In elementary school there were many of us who might be called "chatter boxes" because we were more social than was allowed. But the term has taken on a different meaning from the conversational tone of an earlier time. Today "chatter" may refer to the communications that intelligence agencies pick up from terrorists. Amazingly there is someone out there monitoring practically every form of communication trying to discern chatter so as to stop violence. Chatter. This has me thinking about the chatter all around me. The sound of Joe Buck's voice on Sunday afternoons has become part of the background of American life. (He is an announcer for NFL games in case you didn't recognize the name). Today I heard the chatter of Rex Hudler and the announcers for the K.C. Royals. Among all this comes the continual chatter of advertisements. Listen for the noise in your life. There is background chatter practically all the time. Chatter, chatter, chatter. This becomes serious in the spiritual sense. In a world (and a life) filled with continual chatter it becomes increasingly difficult to hear and recognize the voice of God. God speaks to people in many different ways. Don't expect voices out of the heavens but God speaks. Many times people indicate that they do not believe God speaks to them. Perhaps people feel that way because of all the chatter that stifles the voice of God. So what could we do about this? Listen. It takes time and effort to listen. It is very difficult to hear and recognize the voice of God when we try to pick His voice out from all the others we have going all around us all day. We are invited to some intentional, focused time with God. Some like a few minutes in the morning or evening. It does not make much difference when the focused listening time comes as long as it is intentional. Don't try to pick up on God during the course of a busy day. That is a good time to pray and talk to God but not a good time to listen. Get quiet. Get focused. Listen. Jesus indicated that his sheep (those who love him and follow him) know his voice. Remember the Lord has more invested in communicating with you than you have invested in Him. So relax. Listen. Focus. Hear God's voice. Oh one other thing. Be careful. God does not always say what we expect Him to say. Be ready for a surprise or even a challenge. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve