I believe God screams.
I believe He is screaming at you right now.
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Last Christmas, Amy gave me a small set of headphones to use with my pocket PC. There was nothing especially significant about the headphones except for the little plastic hooks on the ear pieces which insure they stay in place once I put them on. Amy knows I like to listen to music on my pocket PC when I do landscaping work at the church and she also knows I have often been frustrated by the earphones I had been using because they fall out of my ears with great regularity.
I remember how excited I was when I saw the headphones for the first time, because I knew those little moments of aggravation would be gone. What a wonderful gift.
Nearly six months have gone by, and in addition to using the headphones while doing yard work at the church, I now use them when I take my daily walk, so literally I wear them every day.
Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed that there is a volume control on those headphones.
Admittedly it's small and easily overlooked, yet I had never bothered to examine the headphones beyond the earpieces. I had never before seen the small slider which provides an easy way to adjust the volume.
In all honesty the discovery made me feel a little foolish. How could I overlook something so obvious?
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I believe God screams.
I believe He's screaming at you right now.
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As some of you know, Amy has had some medical problems on and off for a number of years. In the past three years, she's had four abdominal surgeries; the most recent was in January. Amy was hospitalized for nearly that entire month. Out of all her surgeries, it's that last one from which she has had the hardest time recovering.
Every day I ask God to help me encourage Amy. I beg him to heal her - physically, mentally...spiritually. I do that every day-no exceptions.
It's the easiest thing I do....talk to God.
Since being released from the hospital last week, Amy has had more energy than at any time in the past six months. It's been wonderful.
Today I came home from a long day at work and was determined to get in my daily walk right away before the South Texas heat sapped my enthusiasm. I also was fixated on spending some time writing, because I haven't given this blog much attention over the past several days.
Amy was up and about when I got home and indicated she wanted to stop by a couple of stores and maybe go out for a coffee and do a crossword puzzle together. I must confess, I am like a lot of men...I don't like shopping. I suggested that perhaps she hit the stores solo while I went on a walk, and then we could meet up for coffee afterwards. I figured that was a pretty good compromise.
Amy wasn't exactly thrilled with that plan, nor was she surprised. She knows me very well and raised no objections.
I quickly changed clothes, and strapping on my headphones and hand weights I headed out the door. I was less than halfway through my walk when it hit me.
How could I overlook something so obvious?
I hurried home, praying all the way that Amy hadn't left yet. Thankfully she was still there when I returned.
As soon as I walked in the door, I blurted out, "I want to go shopping with you."
She raised a suspicious eyebrow and said, "Oh? Is there something you remembered you wanted to buy?"
I said, "No, not a thing"and then asked her to wait while I showered and changed.
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I believe God screams.
I believe He's screaming at you right now.
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I have spent six months on my knees pleading with God to heal Amy. To give her strength. To return some normalcy to our lives.
Today, she is far from healed, but she had a small amount of energy and a desire to do some things together - routine things...mundane things....normal things and my response was a "compromise".
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I believe God screams.
I believe He is screaming at you right now.
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We have jobs, responsibilities, appointments, favorite TV shows to watch. We have children, and school plays, and soccer practices. There are bills to pay, and things to worry about, Church events to coordinate, vacations to plan, lawns to mow, dogs to groom -the list goes on and on! It's a never ending agenda...an agenda of noise.
The din of every day demands and desires.
It's not our fault...it's our lives!
The easiest thing I do is talk to God....listening to Him, now that's another story.
I realized today I need to stop for one small moment and look around. I need to find a tiny volume control for all that racket. A volume control which I've overlooked for far too long....and far too easily.
Then maybe God wouldn't have to scream.
