Do You Hear What I Hear?

I stood in front of several thousand people at the end of last year and talked about God. I talked about how God loved us before we were born and made an entire universe just for us. I talked about how Nature could not do that and wouldn't/couldn't care. And I talked about how powerful, how huge and how consumed He is for our behalf.

And then the next day I promptly forgot what I said and ignored the Creator of the Cosmos whispering in my ear.

Oi, what a dunce!

Let me explain. After my talk in the main sanctuary at church, a wonderful lady came up to me and commissioned me to build a telescope for her beloved's birthday (I had introduced myself as an amateur telescope maker).

Oh joy! I've prayed for this for years! So she sent me a nice check and we swapped emails and phone calls on plans and ideas...what fun! I thought I had prayed for God's permission, but I think in my excitement I missed that step...

So the project started out with the wood I had purchased flying off the car and getting ruined. Then I couldn't find the time. Then when I found the time I had not one brain cell left over from my job to make an accurate cut, drill a clean hole or glue one board to another.

I prayed. And failed. And prayed. And failed.

Finally I cried out to God, "I don't want to tell her that I'm quitting! She's so excited!" In response, I clearly heard God say, "Don't worry, she needs the money. Tell her." I argued with God for a week and heard the same answer.

Finally, I got the guts up to tell her the "bad" news. She just laughed and told me that right after she sent me the check, she lost her job and God had clearly told her to cancel the order. But in fear of disappointing me, she let me flounder along for a month.

The point? If God created an entire universe just for me, and cares enough to speak clearly to me, I figure I ought to pay attention. And the same goes for my friend who heard but disobeyed as well. I won't have the fear of man, but rather the fear of God instead!

As the children's rhyme on ice cream goes, "She heard, I heard, we all hear what we heard!"

~Silly Jack