July 24, 2008
God Talks
Posted by erichaynes under General, Life, Religion, Spiritual Journey, Spirituality | Tags: God, Presence of God, Spirituality, Talking with God |No Comments
I believe that God wants and does talk to us today. Weird, huh? I believe it though, because I have had full conversations with Him that I can’t write off as self-talk.
I’ve had moments of quick interjections into my mind that, in hindsight, were obviously God. My wife walked away from a 12-year, six-figure job because she prayed, unbeknownst to me, that God would give us direction through me and God interrupted a perfectly normal day with direction to have her apply for a separation package the company was offering. That was a shocking occurrence and one that dramatically changed the trajectory of our lives. Not quite a “billboard on the side of the road” moment, but clear direction nonetheless. That’s just weird enough.
But what I am talking about is a 10-minute, back-and-forth discussion with the Lord of the Universe. It happened. I remember it clearly and to this day it is still one of the most profound, perspective changing days of my life, not only because the conversation took place, but because of the message He gave me.
When I try to explain this to people, I get blank stares. Partly, I think, because I do not go to a charismatic church, I am pitifully conservative in nature, and I am a balding, out-of-shape, boring sort of person, so to try to convince people that God would talk to ME seems a little incongruent. But I know what I know.
What did Jesus talk to me about that day? He taught me that I am scared. I agreed. I discovered how irrationally scared I was. He gave me a glimpse into the core of who I was. He then proceeded to tell me that He wanted me to serve and love other people. I said I was scared. He agreed. But then He helped me understand something that has completely changed my understanding of the people around me — they are scared, too. Deeply. Fear runs rampant in the lives of every person.
Now, when I encounter people and I struggle with their personality, or their ideas, or just plain want to judge them for their actions, that lesson comes back to me from both angles — that I am scared, and so are they. And when I realize that we’re both acting out of that fear, it changes my heart somehow. It settles it and allows me to love them and myself a little more like Christ does.
I am convinced that Christ continues to talk to me (or at least desire the conversation) when I make myself available to Him, which admittedly (and surprisingly) is very little given the experiences I’ve had. But I’m attempting to change that. It is a journey, but I am beginning to desire those conversations more and more, not so much as to get more teaching (they can be painful lessons, after all), but because I appreciate that the God of the Universe is delightful to spend time with, and that He desires to be my friend as well. I wish more people would believe that God is not just sitting back watching our lives roll past, but that He is truly whispering to our hearts, He does have something profound to say, and that He will literally walk alongside us on the path if we can just move outside our disbelief. It is, afterall, a little weird.


