Recognise the Caller?

Ever been caught when you start talking to someone on the phone, and are not sure who it is - or in that situation where you start talking to someone, having an intimate conversation, and then realise it is not who you thought it was?  Mistaken identity!  Often when you pick up the phone and first hear someone talking it can take a while before you recognise who it is.  However with our Smart Phones, when we see who is calling before answering, we recognise the caller’s voice straight away!  Studies have shown that if you do know who it is that you are about to speak to, you will recognise their voice immediately.  Identity recognition is improved with more than one piece of information. 

There was the story of the country person who visited a friend in the city.  As they sat at the bus stop waiting for the bus to come, amidst all the City noises, the country visitor said to his friend, “Did you hear that?”, to which the city friend replied, “No, what?”.  The country person looked down and there was a little grasshopper chirping under their seat.  They sat back down, when suddenly the city friend jumped up saying, “Did you hear that?”  The country friend said, “No; What?”  His City host leant down and picked up a coin that someone had just dropped!

What are you listening for, and what are you hearing?  Which of the many noises, the many “voices” talking in the world in which you live, do you hear and recognise?   Your pre-conditioning and expectations will set the background and strongly influence what you “hear” from the myriad of “noises” going on around you. 

Paul in the Bible some 2,000 years ago faced a similar challenge.  He said to the Romans “For ever since the creation of the world (the Creator’s) invisible nature and attributes...have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made...” (The Bible: Romans chapter 1, verse 20)  Many people’s lives are so consumed with meeting daily necessities, and responding to material challenges that face each one of us, that they do not put any time aside to think about issues beyond their current physical environment.  Those that do so are potentially missing out on a whole extra-dimension of life.  Jesus spoke about these issues giving us “life more abundantly”.  (The Bible: John chapter 10, verse 10)

For example, do you hear the voice of a Creator in the “silence” of the ordered creation about us;  do you hear the voice of Reason through the pages of history trying to tell people how we should live and share?  And do you hear the voice of God in the life of Jesus Christ, who as a historical figure lived on this Earth some 2,000 years ago, and history tells us was crucified and rose from the grave.  His influence still impacts the hearts and minds of people today.  Because if you know him, you will recognise His voice as He talks to you through the multi-media of life, and your communication with Him will be as real as the comforting words of a friend who talks to you on the phone.  If you know Him, you will recognise His voice!

We would like to invite you to contact us, or a Church in your local Community, to discuss how you can recognise this voice which “talks” to us through the many aspects of living.  See Church Notices in this Paper for times of Meetings at the Christian Israelite Church at 196 Campbell Street – we have been in continuous service there since 1853 helping to meet the needs of people in a changing society. 

Rodney Gray – Pastor Christian Israelite Church, 196 Campbell Street, Sydney (www.cichurch.com or visit cichurch.blogspot.com.au)