God’s Not Like My Dragonspeak

By Dawn Wilson –

 

I love Dragonspeak technology. Except when I hate it. I speak into my headset and words “magically” appear on my computer screen. But not always the words I want.

Some examples:  Instead of “distinguishes,” I found “to sting wishes;” instead of “philosophers,” I got “Phil law suffers;” and “Eureka” ended up “You reek uh.”

My dog Roscoe sits on a platform by the window next to my desk. He barks at everything outside: a dog, a mailman, a leaf flying by. He doesn’t understand that every “Bark. Bark. Bark” ends up as “Wart. Wart. Wart” on my monitor.

Dragonspeak is so sensitive, every time I stop talking I see the word “whew” on my screen. It’s recording my breathing!

I’m making adjustments and trying to train Dragonspeak to behave, because sometimes I don’t catch misspelled words in important documents. My boss recently returned an email: “Can you make some corrections here?” Ugh. I missed some.

Conversational misunderstandings happen all the time in relationships. Comedians’ repertoires often include stories about spouses who misunderstand each other. Couples need to clarify sometimes: “Did you really say what I think you said?”

Poor communication can cause chaos in an otherwise good relationship.

One day I yelled a question to my hubby from the kitchen. Back in the study, he really couldn’t hear me well, but he shot back an answer anyway. We were both satisfied that we’d been heard—until later when we realized we didn’t understand each other at all. And it cost us!

Over the years, we’ve established important communication guidelines, mostly because of our miscommunication!

1. Plan what you’re going to say, even if it only takes a minute, so you can say it clearly and concisely.

2. Consider whether it’s a good time to speak. Will the person be receptive, or is he or she preoccupied right now? Multitasking won’t help the process. Stop what you’re doing, and wait for him or her to stop. Or come back later.

3. When you do speak, be sure you have the person’s full attention, eye-to-eye.

4. Tell the person what you’re going to say. Then say it. (And repeat, if necessary.)

5. Wait for a response. No fly-by comments, spouting something and then leaving the room.

6. When it’s your turn to listen, be respectful. Don’t interrupt and don’t complete the other person’s sentences. That’s rude.

7. Finally, paraphrase what the person said. Make sure you heard correctly before moving on in the conversation or in your activities.

God cares about communication too. He wants us to know His purposes and expectations.

Too often, we enter our “Quiet Time” with Him distracted and hurried. We say a quick prayer, grab a verse or two and we’re on our way. But is there true communication? Is it just the saying and reading of words?

We need to focus our thinking, stop multitasking—even good, important things—and seek the Lord for a fresh awareness of His presence (Jeremiah 29:12-13) where we can speak our hearts and truly listen to Him! Our prayer might be, “Your Face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8 NIV).

God understands what we’re saying and thinking, but He also wants us to understand Him. We need to “search the scriptures” until we understand God’sheart. He so wants to teach us.

I’m truly thankful God speaks to us. And I’m so glad the scriptures aren’t like my Dragonspeak.

Worship While You Wait

By Cindy Martin –

 

Despite our culture’s drive to do more things faster, we still seem to spend more time waiting than we’d like.  We wait for red lights to turn green, slow grocery checkout lines to move along and our turn in the tech. support phone queue. If I’m honest, I’m quite impatient, and just writing about these scenarios arouses feelings of frustration within me.

While all these petty annoyances act as hurdles in my personal race through life, perhaps the hardest thing to wait for is God to answer my prayers. Beyond the usual angst that comes with waiting for most things, I sometimes wrestle with feelings of guilt or insecurity as I think, “I shouldn’t feel so anxious while I’m waiting, I should trust and not worry, but how do I do that? Should I be doing more? Have I done too much?”  Nagging questions, what ifs and second guessing can create a toxic cocktail in my mental blender that seemingly whirs and spins without end!

A question that I have often asked is, “What does trusting God look like with skin on it? What am I actually doing while I’m trusting and waiting and waiting and……?” Some dear friends of mine introduced me to the concept of worshipping while you wait. It is based on an account in scripture where those carrying the Ark of the Covenant would take a couple of steps and then stop to worship “the Lord God”, take a few more steps and again stop to worship “the Lord Most High.”

At first it didn’t seem all that transformational, but as I’ve chosen to worship God for His character and ability to meet me in my time of need, in addition to declaring my dependency on His all knowing and all loving ways, I have been transformed in my spirit and my perspective.  I no longer feel the need to beg God to hear my prayers or offer Him suggestions on how to answer them! Rather, worshipping while I wait for His answer allows me to bring my requests to Him and then frees me to trust His plan for myself and those I love.

Far from trite or cliche, worshipping while I wait has deepened my walk with God and let me experience what it means to live with my heart at rest. Yay, God!

Scripture: “I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy” (Psalm 116:1 NLT).

Prayer:  “Lord Jesus, You are so worthy of our praise. Grant us grace to worship You as we wait for Your answers to our prayers. I am so grateful for the freedom worshipping You brings to our hearts and minds.”

 

Loneliness

By Gillis Killam –

 

I recently read that Yvette Vickers, Playboy playmate and B-movie star, was found in her house dead. She had died about a year before anyone found her. Her body was mummified near a heater that was running. Her computer was still on.

Although she had a wide audience of “friends,” no one was there when she died. This was a sad lonely person who apparently died alone.

According to recent studies we are more connected than any other generation, and yet we are even more isolated from each other. Some experts tell us that it is not isolation, but loneliness that is increasing the suicide problem of our times.

Stories are surfacing now about people with a wide array of followers on the internet who call themselves “real friends”, but find that wealth and public notoriety do not equal happiness. More and more people who have many followers on Facebook, Twitter, and other communication programs are said to be the loneliest people around.

Think of the accessibility we have to each other through our computers on the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Email, and Skype, where we can be in contact with people almost instantly; and yet we are in the midst of one of the loneliest generations that has ever lived.

In spite of the new technology, we long to have meaningful relationships with each other, but somehow it is not happening. We need each other. God said of Adam before Eve was created, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). We can be in a group, or a crowd of people, and still feel alone.

When God wanted talk to us he didn’t just send us an Email, a Tweet, or a Facebook message; He came to us in the person of Christ to live where we live, walk where we walk, and sit where we sit.  Jesus comes to us even today as the Son of God seeks us. He knocks on the door of our hearts and asks to come in and live in us (Revelation 3:20). All we have to do is open the door of our lives and invite Him to come in. The basic need we all have is for a relationship with our Creator God.

Prayer: Oh God, thank you for your abiding presence!

Sacred Discovery

By Elaine James –
I was so sad for Moses.

“One day the Lord said to Moses, ‘Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel. After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron, for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin’” (Numbers 27:12-14 NLT).

My thought upon reading this is that God wants Moses to look over the land and maybe worship with Him. Then the blow came when God said, “You’re going to die because you rebelled.” All my thoughts of this being a Sacred Moment instantly came crashing down. But wait a minute!  I took a look at Moses’ response. “O Lord, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community” (Numbers 27:16 NLT).

My reaction was, “Are you serious, Moses? Defend yourself!”

Instead, Moses’ response was full of humility, worship, care, compassion and love. He was “other focused”.

How would I have responded if God had just told me that I would die because of my rebellion? With deeper thinking and prayer I asked, “God, why did Moses not come to his own defense? Was he so old and worn out that he just accepted this fate?”

Hebrews 3:5 says, “Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant.” (NLT).  He was a holy man of God. God said “look out over the land”. Moses acknowledged, worshipped, praised and gave thanks! In that moment he connected to God as he always did. He loved God and trusted God more than his life. Moses clung to his hope of being in heaven with God one day. That hope far surpassed his earthly calling. What a leader Moses was. He didn’t have anyone around to impress. It was just him and God. Truly a sacred moment. Some days I do not find time to spend with God, yet I respond to social media, watch TV shows, exercise, read a book, do my puzzles and volunteer. These are my distractions. I allow them to keep me from being fully devoted to God. Are you distracted, too?

Moses’ sacred moment with God helped me with a sacred discovery, not to condemn myself, but to pray for more sacred time with God. PRAYER:  I pray that I can fix my eyes on You today. I look forward to sacred moments with You, Father. I want to be other focused. Help me to be more aware of how I can do that. Amen.

Raisin Brants

By Susan Dollyhigh –

 

I bowed my head and prayed, “Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful day. Please bless this cereal to my body. Amen.” I dipped my spoon into the bowl, and filled it full of crunchy flakes, plump raisins and cold milk.

Ummm, ummm, I love Raisin Bran.

I took a few more bites, dropped my reading glasses from the top of my head to my nose, and opened my Bible. I read awhile, then dipped my spoon back into the bowl and brought it up to my mouth. Now my dentist has always told me that I have a small mouth, ahem, so I guess that’s why I missed the opening, and ended up with milk dribbling down my chin. I turned from reading to clean my face, and noticed that my raisin bran looked a little strange.

Some of those raisins are really small.

I pushed my reading glasses up my nose, and leaned in closer.

Ugh! And they are swimming in the milk!

I spit and sputtered, and then glared at the surviving ants. But they didn’t notice; they were too busy floating around in the milk, catching waves on raisins and lounging on bran flakes. They were totally oblivious to the fact that a dollar pair of reading glasses had just saved them from being eaten alive. Ugh!

In Psalm 119, the psalmist asked God to open his eyes so he could see wonderful things in His law. But the psalmist wasn’t referring to his natural eyesight that allowed him to read words and discover historical facts. The psalmist was asking God for supernatural illumination so he could understand deep, hidden, secret things in God’s Word. He wanted to see spiritual things – God’s glory and beauty and excellence.

Before I read my Bible, I pray and ask God to open my spiritual eyes so I might have discernment and commune with Him. And these days, I’m asking Him to help me remember my reading glasses – even when I’m eating cereal. I can still taste those raisin “brants”.

Ask God to open your spiritual eyes. The supernatural experience is out of this world!

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18 NIV).

PRAYER: Father, thank you for giving us spiritual senses so we might experience You in all Your glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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