Crickets or Money?

This is an illustration taken from a sermon posted by Tim Zingale...

"Two men were walking along a crowded city sidewalk. Suddenly, one of the men remarked, "Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket," But the other man could not hear the sound. He asked his friend how he could hear the sound of a cricket amid the roar of the traffic and the sound of the people. The first man, who was a zoologist, had trained himself to hear the sounds of nature. He didn't explain to his friend in words how he could hear the sound of the cricket, but instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a half-dollar coin, dropped it onto the sidewalk, and watch intently as a dozen people began to look for the coin as they heard it clanking around amid the sounds of the traffic and the sounds of the crowded city living.

He turned to his friend and said, "We hear what we listen for."

His Master's Voice

Thank you for the response Linda. Linda is an old friend who writes a response to yesterdays blog. I asked her if I could share it...

"When I say that I hear God, its not that I hear an audible voice in my head, but rather in the workings of my life, in the fabric and tapestry of the people that surround me.

I get frustrated from time to time, especially in traffic when I inevitably get stuck behind a learner driver. At the peak of frustration, its as if there's a gentle tap on my shoulder as if to say, once upon a time, that was you. Equally, when coming upon an accident, I'm grateful for the driver who for some unknown reason, was driving slowly in front of me that particular day.

Throughout my life there have been moments when things could have gone very badly (a rapist had been terrorising the area we lived in when I was in my teens. His MO was to open the transam window and using some contraption hook the keys out the door. When we woke up in the morning the windows (which we'd closed the night before) were wide open and the keys were missing from the door, but we were unharmed. Other victims were not so lucky. The good news is that he was finally apprehended), but something has stepped inbetween. I see God and hear Him through my friends and see the effect He has on their lives.

God has a way of speaking to us each in a way that we can individually comprehend. Those that need an audible voice will hear Him, those that are able to read between the lines will see hear in their bible readings and see Him in the fabric of the lives as the pattern unfolds before them. It is for us to be patient, to open our hearts, minds and souls, before the message becomes clear."