Category Archives: Hearing from God

Sounds Good

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The other day, I wasn’t getting anything accomplished at home so decided to run the long list of errands I’d been putting off – seven stops.

Self-checkoutLast on the list was Walmart, and by the time I got there, I was dragging. While shopping at mega-stores, I usually have too many items to wade through the self-checkout process, but today I had only half-a-cartful and went for it.

Struggling to figure out the code for onions, I looked toward the self-check employee for help, and she stepped right over. “You don’t have to scroll through all the produce pictures,” she said. “Just look at the sticker on your onion. See that number? Punch it in right here.” She pointed to the screen, encouraging me do it myself.

Then she said something I didn’t expect. “You sure do smell good.”

Arm and HammerI looked at her face and saw she was just a teenager, which made her compliment all the nicer. “It’s my laundry detergent,” I said. After smiling at me, she moved away to help someone else, leaving the sweetness of her remark behind.

I thought about this young girl as I pushed my cart toward the doors, wondering if she was always kind like that. And then I thought about my own off-the-cuff remarks and how often I give in to whining, complaining, or criticizing. Those things seem to come naturally, while voicing words of benefit to another often takes studied effort.

The Walmart girl had been a wonderful example of how it ought to work. And right away I thought of another good example: God.

The greater part of his words to us are kind ones, full of positive promises. They’re meant to encourage us when we’re low and strengthen us when we’re weak. They dissolve our fears, give us hope, deliver peace. Best of all, they’re words of love. If I take in more of God’s sweet words, surely more sweet words will come out of me.

Grocery cartWhen I next went to Walmart, I looked for my favorite self-check girl, anxious to have another conversation with her. It was her uplifting words that were drawing me back to her. I’m pretty sure God’s uplifting words are meant to draw me back to him, too. And though the sweet-speaking Walmart girl wasn’t available that day, God was.

“Let your conversation be always full of grace…” (Colossians 4:6)

Never!

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Struggling to make myself understood by the gas station attendant who accused me of ruining his car wash (yesterday’s blog), I tried one last time. “The recording won’t let me put in my code!”

“You were just supposed to punch it in,” he said with disdain, “so the wash would start like it always does.”

“But it won’t let me punch it in! It says it’s ‘in use’!”

“No!” he said. “You just punch it in. Like this!” Punching hard at his cash register buttons, he looked at me through a frown.

“But it won’t let me!” I pleaded. “Won’t you please come outside so I can show you?”

“It won’t let you, because you broke it! No – I won’t come. Wagging his finger at me he said, “You go now. No car wash for you today!”

“But I already paid!” I said again.

“No car wash for you today… or any other day! Never!”

And with that he reached into his cash register and pulled out a five dollar bill and tossed it on the counter in front of me. “There. Now get your car and go! And don’t come back!”

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As I walked back to my car feeling completely misunderstood, I thought about how frustrating it is to do your very best at getting a point across and still fail. And I had to ask myself, is that how God feels when I don’t “get” something he’s trying to tell me?

When things aren’t going well and there’s no one to blame, do I blame him? And then does he feel frustrated with my lack of understanding? Or when he’s trying to tell me something through his Word, do I interrupt and “talk over” him by skipping the hard parts or denying his intended meaning? Or do I lose patience when he doesn’t quickly answer my prayer requests?

Does he finally give up and stop trying as I did with the gas station guy? I didn’t really want $5; I wanted a car wash. But he wasn’t willing to hear me out or go outside to identify the problem.

It’s similar with God. He wants me to come along with him, to spend one-on-one time listening carefully to what he’s trying to explain. He’s hoping I’ll try to understand with an open mind. I wanted the attendant to believe me, but from the beginning, he was set against that. God wants me to believe him, too, without my defenses being up against him.

As I walked back to my car, I passed the machine where I’d first entered my code. “Please wait. Car wash in use,” it said. All I could think was that when the next car wash customer couldn’t punch in his code, he would probably head for the attendant, too. That’s when he’d learn that a crazy woman broke it that afternoon.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 1:18)

Preacher Man, Conclusion

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As I sat at Derek’s dinner table digesting God’s big surprise (yesterday’s post), he asked me what I thought of Nelson becoming a pastor.

“It’s glorious!” I said, confident that the Lord had been schooling him to this end for a long time. “But how can he be a pastor without being ordained? And how can he be ordained without having gone to seminary?”

Derek’s answer surprised me (God’s Part Two). “You don’t need to go to seminary to become a pastor here. It’s about being the man the church ‘puts forward,’ combined with an interview and ordination process that happens in front of a panel of Baptist pastors working in Hawaii.”

Two weeks later I was sitting in the back of the church as its members discussed the possibility of Nelson becoming their new pastor. Five different people stood and told of their long-ago hope that if Derek ever left, Nelson would step in. When they voted whether or not to extend the call, it was unanimous – and that day they “put forward” the man they wanted as their new pastor.

IMG_2180Two weeks after that, Nelson was sitting in front of six Baptist pastors, answering questions about God’s Word and his own faith. I was privileged to listen in on the process and their discussion afterwards. Once again the vote was unanimous, and they agreed to ordain Nelson the following day.

And what a day it was!

After these same men had preached in their own churches that morning, they and their wives joined us to participate in Nelson’s afternoon ordination service. The charge was given, followed by the pastors encircling our son to pray phenomenal blessings over him as he received Part Two of God’s amazing surprise….

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….and I couldn’t help but weep.

As I listened, God gave me a flashback to the days of difficulty Nate and I had had with a youthful Nelson as he made one unwise choice after another. I remembered a teen who ran away from home on a sub-zero night and was missing for four days. I thought of court room episodes, car accidents, alcohol, and a tearful conversation with Nate during which I questioned what would ever become of our wayward son.

FullSizeRender (7)As Nelson kneeled in the little sanctuary in the process of being ordained, God gave me the answer. Directly into my heart and mind he said, “During those troubled years when you were looking at Nelson, all you saw  was a rebellious kid.

But Me? I saw…. a pastor.”

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness.” (Psalm 119:30)