Saturday, March 13, 2021

Turn Down the Volume and Listen

Read: Mark 4:23-25

Today’s continuously connected world has a unique ability to allow us to listen to and be heard by an ever wider network of friends. Ironically, “connected” can often have the opposite effect on our relationship with God. I find in my own life that the constant cacophony of voices can sometimes make me deaf to the whispers from God.

On a cold, dark January evening, I found myself rushing into my car to run a quick errand to get paint supplies for a school project for my 6-year-old son. It was the end of an ordinary day. As I was spinning down Mack Ave. I heard a whisper that many days I might have ignored.
A sudden and overpowering feeling came over me that I needed to make this an unordinary day. God had broken through the cacophony and told me to change course and stop by for a surprise visit at the home of one set of my church parents. I could have gotten there blindfolded, and certainly without the aid of a Google map, as I had spent countless carefree days playing in their yard years ago. I slipped on my mask, strolled up the stairs to the porch, and rang the doorbell. After a few anxious moments, Heidi and Charlie van Becelaere answered the door.

Even though I was fretting about breaking the rules of my COVID “pod,” I knew immediately that I had done the right thing. I had finally turned down the volume and listened to a whisper from God. Though this was a new form of “socially distant” fellowship, as with all good family and friends, we picked up right were we left off. It was like we had not missed a day apart.
As the conversation was winding down, I saw a welling in Heidi’s eyes as she asked if she could have a hug. A year ago this simple embrace would have been an ordinary goodbye, but after almost a year of isolation, it seemed like an extraordinary request. Though my mind was telling me “it’s not safe,” I again listened to God for guidance. The answer was clear – we held on for what seemed like an eternity and it was a fitting end to one of the most “connected” moments of the last year.

So for me, every once in a while turn down the volume – you might actually hear something that could change your course.

Andrew DeWitt