People are always talking in church about "hearing God." I just sit there thinking, "hear God??? I can't even hear the preacher!!" and just as quickly my attention span has jumped the tracks and I'm thinking about what I'll have for lunch or about how I need to clip my nails or the currency exchange in Rwanda..... or what time it is..... oh look it's time to go home..... I wonder what the preacher was talking about...... mmmmmmm..... chicken fingers........
If you think I'm kidding or exaggerating, it's only because you haven't met me.
I can count on three fingers or less the people who can hold my attention from a stage or microphone. My former pastor, David Ruis, who moved to California while I was still in bible school, I could listen to him talk all day. He was normal, down to earth, and never said a word without illustrating it with a vivid picture or a great joke or a funny voice. If he was speaking, I was understanding, and I left church thinking, "hey that was fun, I like learning God stuff!!"
Of course, while there are many excellent speakers in my church, I haven't heard a word from the pulpit since...... with the exception of the weekend David dropped in on us. I try so hard, but seriously, if we're not face to face, I just can't hear it.
But today we had a guest speaker who just happened to be the brother of a couple friends of mine and I heard every word he said. I laughed, I took mental notes, I understood his talk on..... get this..... hearing God.
So I was thinking while sitting there in church that it might be a good idea to make a point of blogging on sunday afternoons about what I got out of going to church, thinking that maybe it would provide accountability to not only go, but to learn something while I'm there. The other thing is that I learn best by teaching, so it might be just the thing to pound some spiritual truths into my thick undernourished skull.
I don't feel like doing that right now though. I think I'll drop in on the evening service just out of curiosity, and maybe write again after that.....
The speaker instructed us to ask God a question..... the question that he provided was "What grieves You here in winnipeg?"
Immediately a newspaper article popped into my head, regarding a squatter in the west end and a neighbor who was unimpressed by the way the squatter "makes the neighborhood look." That instant brought back my initial indignation and outrage at the calloused attitude of those who are priviledged...... so many opportunities here to fly off the handle, but that's not what this blog is about.
The speaker says, "God's voice is the one right before you started rationalizing it away." Whereupon I found myself focussing on my rationalization..."I only thought of that squatter because it grieves me" Whereupon God, ever the opportunist, came right back with "Hey that's cool!! We're grieved by the same thing!!"
Seriously..... who knew you could hear God in church?
If you think I'm kidding or exaggerating, it's only because you haven't met me.
I can count on three fingers or less the people who can hold my attention from a stage or microphone. My former pastor, David Ruis, who moved to California while I was still in bible school, I could listen to him talk all day. He was normal, down to earth, and never said a word without illustrating it with a vivid picture or a great joke or a funny voice. If he was speaking, I was understanding, and I left church thinking, "hey that was fun, I like learning God stuff!!"
Of course, while there are many excellent speakers in my church, I haven't heard a word from the pulpit since...... with the exception of the weekend David dropped in on us. I try so hard, but seriously, if we're not face to face, I just can't hear it.
But today we had a guest speaker who just happened to be the brother of a couple friends of mine and I heard every word he said. I laughed, I took mental notes, I understood his talk on..... get this..... hearing God.
So I was thinking while sitting there in church that it might be a good idea to make a point of blogging on sunday afternoons about what I got out of going to church, thinking that maybe it would provide accountability to not only go, but to learn something while I'm there. The other thing is that I learn best by teaching, so it might be just the thing to pound some spiritual truths into my thick undernourished skull.
I don't feel like doing that right now though. I think I'll drop in on the evening service just out of curiosity, and maybe write again after that.....
The speaker instructed us to ask God a question..... the question that he provided was "What grieves You here in winnipeg?"
Immediately a newspaper article popped into my head, regarding a squatter in the west end and a neighbor who was unimpressed by the way the squatter "makes the neighborhood look." That instant brought back my initial indignation and outrage at the calloused attitude of those who are priviledged...... so many opportunities here to fly off the handle, but that's not what this blog is about.
The speaker says, "God's voice is the one right before you started rationalizing it away." Whereupon I found myself focussing on my rationalization..."I only thought of that squatter because it grieves me" Whereupon God, ever the opportunist, came right back with "Hey that's cool!! We're grieved by the same thing!!"
Seriously..... who knew you could hear God in church?
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