THE LISTENER

I am sitting in my swamp cooler air-conditioned (Southwest style) living room reading Taylor Caldwell’s “No One Hears But Him.” She is an amazing author. She is from the 1950s and 60s. If you ever have opportunity to read her writings, please do. You can trust her spirituality, yet she is also not predictable as is so much “Christian theology” today.

I am not saying Christian theology needs an update, but living a life in the Holy Spirit is far from predictable. Living life is deep, and even deeper is the God who interacts with humanity. He is not the God of formulas but of foundation.

What I see so often is a mindset that says, "Life is like one big breath. We come to age 30 and hold it ‘til we die."

We want it all to be set in order. "Failure" is when life messes up the order. How sad.

It was never supposed to be set.

Even the bible, no especially the bible, is interactive. God is relating with humanity on the stage of life. When we listen to Him, we enter the dance, and we can dance with God.

Her books show this. This current book, compliments of our good friend Steve Bockemeier, is a continuation of another Caldwell classic, “The Listener.”

The chapter I had just read was about a 33 year old man who wanted to remain a boy and refused to grow up. He struggles, curses God and all Truth, as the Listener listens. The speaker in this case, the young man, hears the Listener listening.

Taylor Caldwell is showing we readers that this is how God speaks via listening to us.

He waits until we get to the place where we can hear His Voice. He has not abandoned you. He is waiting for you to understand what He understands about you. Ironically we hear … by hearing Him hearing us. Somehow in our pain, we understand His pain, and then now know how He cares ... for us.

This moment of recollection is the complainer’s moment of revelation. He is actively with us and when we stop and listen we know He listens to me … to us.

Yes, He is "Our Father who art in heaven."  His silence is His listening.  

This causes we the stubborn to stretch up and see God.

Suddenly my beloved Wendy enters the room. She and Stephanie by the way are the reason I am a biological father, LOL. She walks into my space playing music on our Amazon tablet. I now hear the ancient song from the Byrds, "to every day ... a time to every purpose ... a time to heal, laugh, hate , a time to every purpose, a time to cast stones, to gather stones, a season …Turn Turn Turn… a time for peace, yes peace ... Turn Turn to everything, to every purpose unto heaven ... Turn  Turn  Turn.  Turn to the 60s??

Time is ...

I do not mean to sound like the past was great and "Let’s go backward to go forward."  In fact I heard a 20-something man, Ben Courson, someone I know from years ago from our days in Oregon, give the message at Calvary Chapel, Albuquerque, NM, for all time past, present, and future. The God of all Time plays in my time. He lights up the darkness!

What Jesus said is what He is saying. He says "Our Father" because He speaks to you, to us, now.

Don't say "Yes I know that" too quickly. Listen. Let the reality of those words reach your heart. Maybe it will hurt? Maybe make you laugh. Long drives to an acting presentation often send me into a laughing revival. He is funny!

Don’t give Him your theology only. Give Him your heart. Your heart of pain, your hope, or loss of hope, on and on.

In that same spirit, do not say those words are for religious types and that stuff is not for me. If there is one thing all of humanity has in common, it is our humanity.

Even Jesus, especially Jesus, is human. Jesus the Vine who is divine, now, then ... and a ... "Time for every purpose."  A time for all time and right now. This very moment is where I enter as I am.  He as He is.  Yes, "There is a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Consider this. The answer to life’s extremes is to embrace the extremes. It’s to leave the neutral, the safe, the controlled. Live not for the moment, but in the moment.

It is His theater and it transcends all the earth has to offer, and yet it plays ... oh yes it plays out. Let Him play you.  You will give a sound, an actor’s beat, a new note from the body that is your life.  A real life that transcends all this world can offer.

Yes I can hear Him now can you?   Listen ... to the Listener "…on earth as it is in heaven."