The doorbell to the front door rang about 12:40 just after midnight. My husband is a hard sleeper and I woke him up immediately when I heard the bell. This is the kind of thing that just gets my heart racing like crazy. We grabbed robes and headed cautiously to the door, Mel telling me to stay in the hall. He strategically peered around the corner and saw two police cars parked in front and an officer standing at the door. He opened it and asked what was going on? The officer said they had received an 911 call from the phone number at this address.
Mel's response was immediate: we are the only ones here and we were sound asleep. So the other officer who had been standing in the yard joined us on the porch and called her dispatch to confirm the number. Turns out that it was our second line which is a fax line and hardly ever used. We thanked them for their time and they apologized for the inconvenience and all was once again well. (We did cancel the line the day following and found there had been 32 information calls reported on that line within just one month. Mystery for sure!)
Mel's response was immediate: we are the only ones here and we were sound asleep. So the other officer who had been standing in the yard joined us on the porch and called her dispatch to confirm the number. Turns out that it was our second line which is a fax line and hardly ever used. We thanked them for their time and they apologized for the inconvenience and all was once again well. (We did cancel the line the day following and found there had been 32 information calls reported on that line within just one month. Mystery for sure!)
Who knows how the lines got tangled up and twisted but apparently this was not the first time this kind of occurrence had been reported. Now how do I relate this to a God appropriated story? Well this is a phone line that we have not kept in check. We have had it for years as a second line way before cell phones had taken priority because we had a full house and needed a second line. It was just one of those things whose existance had pretty much fallen through the cracks and been hidden among the daily routines that we had come to accept.
Phone lines, cell phones or land lines, are all a part of a communication process between one person and another. It is a segway into presenting information and a sharing of relationships. When we call someone or someone calls us it is either as an interested party, a need for something, or a way to pass along information.
But always it is one person sharing something with another, and the other responding. Here is the point: Is our line of communication with God sort of on the back burner, and hidden among daily routines, self guided motives, stress activated priorities, and an abandoned desire to know God and seek his wisdom, strength power and grace, and share our every concern and delight with Him. Or, is it a line that we use continually and know the minute it has been compromised or has died?
There are a great many verses in the bible that talk about calling God, or calling on God and God calling on his disciples, but there is one verse particularly at the beginning of the bible that is about God calling man: You remember the story about the garden and Adam and Eve hiding because they had eaten from the tree and they were hiding because they knew they had been busted.
Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called to man, “where are you?”.
Well, it occurred to me that having a relationship with God is a two way connection, it is not just about us calling on God, but it also is a reminder that God calls us, and he already knows what is going on in our lives. I think sometimes he just wants us to be honest enough, humble enough, and remorseful enough to put them on his table. When we are actively in tuned to our line of communication, we know when God calls is calling us, even to help with his smallest of errands. And we have to make a decision as to whether or not to screen his calls or answer him and be willing to partner with him for the glory of his kingdom.
We are no different than Adam and Eve, we mess up constantly. But, there is no reward in letting our guilt, shame, failure and pride cut us off from calling on God or screening his calls to us. Our reward is in our everyday relationship and commitment to have an open line of communication with God no matter how crazy or painful or twisted the things in life around us may be, or even we may be for that matter. If we make time to call on God in prayer and in thought, he will answer us in ways that we might not comprehend at first but soon we will be shadowed by his presence and his peace.
Just as that doorbell rang, and startled us from a deep sleep, and we cautiously went to answer it; we too, are in a position, if we allow our lines to be open, to be awakened by God’s call. But our line has to be actively engaged, and connected and a necessary communication tool that we have chosen to use and maintain, and not
one that has been carelessly abandoned.
‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Psalm 50:15 and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Dear Lord, Oh how grateful I am to have an open line of communication established with you. If there is someone who is reading this today who has not yet given you a chance to be their wonderful counselor, and mighty warrior please put it on their heart to sign up for service, your service. May they call on you and may you answer them in a way that they will know that you are real and present, and not just a passing myth.
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