Flashback to your teenage years. Remember when you were in the car with
several of your friends. The driver
pulled up to a red light and then someone out of nowhere yells out “Chinese
fire drill!!” Doors fly open. Everyone leaps out of the car and begins to
race around it, making a complete circle before diving back into the vehicle
all before the light turns green. What
an adrenaline rush!! Okay. I admit, I remember actually getting out of
the vehicle I was in MAYBE two or three
times. One, I was usually the driver and
two, I was such a play by the rules, scaredy cat who was always thinking of
what could go wrong and how much trouble I would have to pay once I was
caught. Yes, I was the one who when we
snuck out to wrap houses stayed in the car until I felt sure no one was going
to come out of the house and holler at us and more importantly double and triple
checked to confirm there were no cops driving by to arrest us!
Well this past Saturday morning found me running down a vehicle
at a red light, not because I was participating in a Chinese fire drill, but
because someone had their phone on vibrate!
We had woken up early and the whole family headed out the door to
participate in the Awana Games. I had
packed us a great lunch the night before in order to save us money by not
having to buy lunch at the event. As we
hurriedly gathered everything we needed for the day, I asked one of the kids to
put the lunch in the car. They obeyed
and we were on our way. After arriving
at the church, loaded 15 children and 5 adults into a people mover and three
vehicles we were on the road. Then it
happened…
You know—that moment when you finally get a chance to sit
and think through everything you need to bring and have with you in order to
have a successful vacation, trip, or a day event. I sat there mulling over everything we were
to be doing for the day and what we would need.
Then it slapped me—Our Lunch!!!
It was still in the back of the car at the church and here we were about
1 mile away headed to The Woodlands!
Okay, stay calm. I immediately
pulled out my phone to call Scott who was riding in the vehicle ahead of
us.
No answer.
Try again.
No answer.
Try again.
No answer.
Frantically, as we drove further and further away from the
church I remembered, Scott has his phone on vibrate from work and has not
turned it up for the weekend. He misses
many calls because of this, but he can’t miss my call! I need him to stop and they are bookin’ it to
the sports complex ahead of us. Wait, I
could ride back with someone in one of the vehicles behinds us. No, I don’t have the keys to the car. Scott has the keys!
Okay, try again. (Surely
he can’t miss 11 vibrations from his phone.)
No answer.
We spot a red light up ahead. When we get there we will honk at them and
tell them to pull over. The light turns
green before we can get behind them.
Try again.
No answer.
Okay, I call the wife of the driver because I don’t have the
driver’s phone number. She answers and I
ask her to call her husband and ask him to pull over. She agrees.
Okay, maybe now we can get some results.
She calls me back and tells me she can’t get her husband to
answer!!
Try Scott again.
No answer.
Resolving in my mind we are just going to have to purchase
our lunch at the event while our free lunch is in the back of our vehicle, the
bus driver and I spot them parked at a red light just ahead of us. Yes!
We too are coming up right behind them to stop. Now about 15 miles away from the church, I
leap out of my seat as she opens the door and I begin a fast paced jog to the
vehicle in front of us, passing someone on a motorcycle before I get there. (I can’t even imagine what he was thinking as
I passed him.) The light turns green and
my husband who is in the passenger seat as well as the driver haven’t even seen
me yet! I begin to pound on the
passenger window…
Finally
success!!
They pull over as I quickly walk to the nearest
sidewalk. Our caravan pulls up and over
to the side as they anxiously wait to find out why the sudden stop and why I am
running down vehicles! I quickly tell
Scott what I did and why I need the keys.
He hands them over and I get in another vehicle that is willing to take
me back to the church to get our lunch.
For some it might appear I went to way greater lengths than
I needed to and I should have just forked over the $30+ dollars needed to buy
our lunch for the day. But, for others,
you know exactly where I am coming from.
Budgets are tight and I can feed our family of 6 a lot of meals off of
$30 dollars. More importantly though I
learned a huge lesson that day in how we often relate to our great God and
Father who has awesome things packed for us.
Our Father desires to give us great gifts all the time and
not just the material blessings, but more importantly the spiritual blessings
of knowing Him and His power. He
continues to call us to let us know what He has for us. However, our phone is on vibrate. We are so busy with the activities and day to
day things we are completing, we don’t hear when our phone goes off and we miss
God’s call. Ashamedly, we only turn the
ringer on when we are in church on Sundays or Wednesday nights. Sometimes, the ringer doesn’t even get moved
from vibrate to ringer because we forget and then we miss God’s voice even when
we are “suppose” to hear from God. Some have even resorted to putting God on
silent. Your heart and attitude has become
so calloused with sin you have no desire
to even hear when God is calling. Still some
have never even experienced God’s voice in the first place. You have refused to turn your phone on to
receive the first, greatest and most important message of all. God loves you and wants to give you the best
gift—His Son Jesus Christ. This is
clearly stated in John 3:16:
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
The book of Romans tells us how we should answer God’s call
and receive the gift of His Son…
“If you confess with your mouth `Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heat that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-13)
Don’t wait any longer to turn your phone on. Check your message from God and answer His
call with a yes. Once you have answered
His call, leave the ringer on and continue to ask God to enable you to answer
all future calls from Him. Don’t put Him
on silent or vibrate. Listen and
anticipate His calls in your life. Don’t
be afraid to push the talk button and say…
Yes Lord.
My Heart’s Prayer:
Gracious Lord and Savior forgive me for the multitude of times I taken
my phone, placed it on vibrate and ignored or missed Your desire to speak to
me. Please give me the willingness to
keep the line of communication between us open.
Speak to me and help me to carry out the blessings you give to me as I
hear your voice. In Jesus Name,
Amen.
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