The Sense of Hearing

There are five senses that we depend on to be effectively alive in this world!

• Taste, Hear, See, Smell – these senses are located in your head.
• Feel – this is the one sense that impacts the head but we often think of it as coming from our fingers.

The senses of the head are all so specialized and cause us to act or re-act to the input we receive.

• When we taste a substance, we either hunger for more or flee the table.
• When we hear, we tune in or tune out.
• When we see danger, we either flee or fight.
• When we smell, we are either drawn or repulsed.
• When we feel, we move closer or further away.

Our senses control everything about our life. How we respond, how we act, where we go, what we search for, what our desires are – we can either sharpen our senses to grow into a marvelous individual, or we can let our senses become sloppy and our end result seldom pleases anyone. A thinking person cannot think without having had input into the brain. A loving person cannot love without having the sense of what one chooses to love. A rational person cannot maintain control if there is nothing to give one balance on the ranges of emotion.

Your sum total of being is a result of what your senses give you, how you internally process it, and what you do with it to form your outward persona. All our sensory input creates us into the person that we eventually present ourselves to be. Sensory overload creates a stressed life. Focusing on satisfying a single stimulus from a single sense makes us unstable. Example, constant visual stimulation of things that entertain us gives us an outward person that struggles with reality.

Now here’s the rub. What we hear directly affects the brain. Scripture continually points us to what we put into our heart (brain) comes more from what we hear and from what we see. During a time when many could not read, much less have a book to hold onto, much instruction came by hearing the Word of God, or listening to instructions being provided.

Listening skills are missing in this modern world. Constant noise is being filtered by our brain. We follow the sounds that appeal to us, and tune out the sounds that are discordant. I was visiting with our pest control guy today and he commented it was so easy to talk to me as I was a good listener. Such a beautiful compliment! Oh, that God could say that about us. Oft times we are formulating a response while listening to someone talk. Yet God speaks and there’s really nothing we can say in response – so we should develop some really keen listening skills.

Let me share a couple of “hearing” things a child of God should focus on.

Sharpened Hearing…

Acts 28:27 - For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

The older I get the more my hearing is becoming history. When listening to some of you I have to give complete focus to your speech, perhaps even paying attention to the shape of words you are making with your mouth. I cannot make my hearing better, but I can change the circumstances around which I listen. For example, background noise can drown out your spoken word – in order to hear you better I must remove the background noise so I can hear more clearly.

When you are trying to determine your path in life, you have to completely focus!

When a message is being preached, too many times you allow your attention to be sidetracked by the things you have surrounding you. I’ve watched people clip their nails, respond to emails or texts, play with their children, whisper to one another, or just sleep. You cannot hear sharply what is being shared from God’s word when you have your attention divided. Jesus said in Mark 3:24-27, “…And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”

Divided attention produces unstable results! Why do you think they have passed laws to prevent you from talking or texting on your cell phones?

Sharpening your hearing means you must pull out all the stops of distractions and put all your energy into hearing what God would say to you and the church. John writes in the early chapters of Revelations, “…He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches…” In order to hear we must focus our ears upon the spiritual voice of God.

Pray…

When we pray, we do it in such a way that we vocalize to God, hoping that He hears. Have you ever listened to the words you are saying? Most of the times we just say words with no concept of the power these words have. There is power to your words – power that brings solutions!
Jesus answers His disciples desire to learn how to pray by giving them a formula. We seldom follow the formula and just pour out our self-pitying cries of despair. Listen to how you pray and tell me that you’re doing what Jesus says!

When God speaks to us we know that He answers. When He speaks to us, we should be focused on hearing what He says. 1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” He will answer according to His will, but we have to speak our prayers properly and not incorrectly. James 4:3, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Prayer is a two-way conversation! Speak. Hush and listen.

Hearing God…

At the mountain where the transfiguration occurred, God speaks to the three disciples regarding the spoken words of Jesus, (Matt 17:5) “…hear ye him…” This phrase comes from Deut 18:15, where God says another prophet would be raised up (mountain top) and all should listen to him. Luke writes in several places in Acts to confirm the results of this prophecy (Acts 3:22-23, Acts 7:37).

We are commanded to listen.

This world is full of discordant sounds, voices that command our attention, words that cause us to listen… Oh what do we spend time listening to?

Yet Satan has a voice and it is often difficult to know whose voice we are hearing. Jesus says His Sheep will know His voice (John 10:27) and as the verse goes on to explain, “…I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish…”

Who do you want to listen to? False hope? Or the Truth? Or the one that can give you Eternal Life?

Never tired of hearing…

In the last days, Amos writes that God would send a famine into the land. Not a famine of food, but of hearing the word of the Lord. (Amos 8:11) How can anyone grow tired of hearing the Word of the Lord? For in these Words we have access to understanding the will and plan of God for this world. In them we learn of the majesty and beauty of God. In them we learn how much He loves us!

King David says he wants to inquire in the temple and behold the beauty of the Lord (Ps 27:4). You never tire of approaching that which YOU deem beautiful!

Finally, Paul came to the city and people of Corinth in a very plain fashion. Read his words in
1 Corinthians 2:1-16(KJV) to get the full gist of what our hearing needs to be like.

Clackety, Clackety, Clackety.... Whoosh!

When I was a youngster, there was a place that was pure joy to visit – and, although I remember being there with the family, there came a time when we were dropped off and picked up later in the evening to enjoy as only kids can enjoy without parents. What was that place? Astroworld. It was across the freeway from the Astrodome – the home of the Houston Astros and the place where Astroturf found its first home. A safe place, as I remember it, for kids to be kids. As I remember Astroworld, I do not remember anybody ever getting into trouble. There were no cell phones to keep track of each other. Our method of communication was to say that we would meet at a certain place in the park by a certain time.Regardless, you paid your admission price and every ride was free. Even though Astroworld was in our neck of the woods, Six Flags Over Texas was between Ft Worth and Dallas and was another favorite spot – although we did not go there as often.

My favorite rides had something to do with speed, high hills, precipitous drops, and high “G” turns. I do not remember all their names, but there was one that was called something like “Runaway Mine Train.” It was designed like an ore car used to transport miners and ore from one end of a mine to another. Never mind that we had no mines like this around us, but it was a pure delight to get into the car – hopefully in the front car. In this favorite spot, you would leave the station and begin to enter the mine. The very first thing you hear is “clackety, clackety, clackety” as the cars are pulled upwards to the top of the hill. You see, for the most part the thrill of the roller coaster is the unbridled speed that begins as that last “clackety” ends – Whoosh, you head down the hill and into the turns that bring screams and a joy of speed like you can never get on your bicycle.

These names sort of burn into my memory – Runaway Mine Train, XLR8, Space Mountain, Cannonball Run, and the list seems endless as I try to remember all the key words that give some the willies to just think about it.

Take the theme park out of the picture, take the roller coaster car off the tracks, and instead put your life into its place. Make your life represent the roller coaster and a great fear will wake you up in the middle of the night just sweating through the challenges that your life presents to you in the daytime. Your life is a challenge and there seem to be times that everything is out of control. Forget that the tracks you are attached to give you a semblance of order, nor that the limits of the design that God has built into the story of your life gives you hope of successful completion, you can then realize you do not have to worry about coming off the tracks and flying through the air to certain destruction.

You see, it is Satan’s plan to make sure you focus on the tragedy and uncertainty of life and not look to the certainty of our destination. He wants your life to be thrown suddenly off the top of a hill that you have been climbing and hoping that the fall will cause you to flee your relationship with God! But God knows you are better than the trials of life! His Word speaks to us, Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Consider the man Job. Satan did. He saw a man that was seemingly perfect in God’s eyes.
• Job 1: 1-3 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Oh what a marvelous life he must have lived. Clackety, Clackety, Clackety – he grows his family and vast holdings. Life is good. Everything is growing and going good. 10 children, 11,000 animals, a large household. Not only did he “own” a lot, but his character was not even called into question – he was PERFECT and UPRIGHT. He Feared God. He rejected evil. He made sacrifices to God in case his sons and daughters had sinned. When Satan came before God, it was The Lord that asked Satan if he had taken note of His Servant, Job. The stage seemed to be set for failure; Satan is allowed to do ANYTHING to Job, except to take his life. Can you feel it? Life is about at the top of the tracks. The last Clackety sound is fading and the downward Whoosh is coming. Can you feel the gravity take hold of your life. Where you once were on that really nice upward climb, the bottom starts to drop out from under you. Look at what happens to Job: The Sabeans, the Fire of God, the Chaldeans and a great wind destroys all he has – except for his wife and the four servants who come to report the tragedies. All in one day!

This is one of the worst tragedies recorded in scripture – it happens fast and without warning.

Job is a hero – he’s perfect, upright, rejects evil and he fears God. He has it all - many children, lots of livestock and a reputation that is not exceeded by anyone else within this book.

Bring this home to us and remember how we act when something goes wrong in our life!

Life is often like this roller coaster experience. We leave the station and begin to climb the hill of life. Regardless of how long this growth period is, compare your life to the stock market and realize that every day we face challenges. Some of which can cause us to spin in a seemingly death ordained spiral to low points and we have to Clackety, Clackety, Clackety, climb again to regain.

Remember Paul’s admonition, “…all things…” work together for Good. What you are going through may seem to be the worst trial ever, but God knows exactly what you are facing. He knows the twists, turns and drops that are coming fast. He also knows when the next Clackety sound will bring joy to your life.

What's It All About?

As I penned the title to this blog, an song of old popped into my mind, "What's it all about, Alfie?" I stopped to look up the lyrics because I can only remember this single phrase. I have no clue as to who wrote it, who put the music to the lyrics, or even who sang the song. In my mind I do not remember even if it is a male or female... The only thing that remains is the phrase - "what's it all about...".

These past few weeks it seems the emphasis of so many are about the highs and lows of things happening around us. Many jump on the band wagon of excitement about this "lebron" thing, others focus on the zoo and talk about "tiger", while others are paying huge attention to soccer happening in another country - on another continent - below the equator... Some cannot get enough of twilight - we just drove through Forks and I did not see any werewolves or vampires. Some are upset that their TV show has been canceled. Some are bemoaning the latest reality show as if it's a real representation of life. While others think that it's rigged for judges to promote one talent over the other. And then there's all this talk about tar balls washing up on the coast line in the Gulf of Mexico.

From financial meltdowns, to mortgage crisis, to lost jobs, time nor space is available for me to document all the things that people decide to spend their energy and focus upon.

I grow weary with the focus on this world and all the distractions we are faced with. Somewhere I need to revamp my thinking and look to the Good News found in the pages of the Bible.

There is Hope for a better life and it is not found with a basketball in my hand.
There is Joy in living for Christ and it not found flipping channels.
There is Peace in putting Christ first in my life, even when this world is full of disasters.
There is Love in responding to the Love that came to me on a dark and lonely road.

So, I ask this question, "What's it all about?" Do you really know? Do you really care?

I Do.... A Covenant

I've been asked by some how I've "made" my marriage last for so long... Today is our 36th anniversary. I can remember that day:
- a home wedding at Freddie and Jack Huffman's house by the University of Houston
- hot and humid, the A/C not keeping up with the demands being placed on it
- a special haircut that did feel comfortable
- a spruced up 1971 Dodge Dart Sport, bright orange, white seats, white vinyl top
- matching ties for all the guys (which I still own)
- the minister, A.E. Matney, standing at the front of the room
- dad singing our wedding song selection (I still have the book it came out of)
- family and friends gathering together to help us celebrate

And then, Brenda walks down the stairs and is presented to me by her dad...

On that day we made a covenant and declared our undying love and devotion to each other. We sealed our agreement with a simple, "I do..." A covenant of love that has bound us to each other these 36 years.

Never has there been a time when I wondered, "What am I getting myself in to?" Just 19 and 18 years old, barely out of high school, we were committing ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives.

The year my granddad passed away, he and grandmother celebrated their 65th anniversary. He was a little older than I when he married and she was a little younger. Was life easy for them? No! Several world wars, depressions, sicknesses, death of a child, and a host of other unknown events could have created opportunity for their marriage to fail. That last year of his life Granddad told me that they would have had nothing in their lives except for Grandmother saving and scrimping like she was famous for. When he wanted a new motor for his boat, she would analyze their finances and his desire and determine if they could do it. What a partnership they had - not necessarily rosy on all fronts, but it gave me an insight into how their marriage worked.

To my brides chagrin (at times) I keep broadcasting that we are aiming for 65 years of marriage. We are over halfway there.

Something came to mind earlier this year - we were both born in 1955, and this year we each turn 55. Not very many people will be able to celebrate their births like this. A math statement puts sums it up: (55 + 55 = 110) * 2 = 220 - independently we are simple house current. Joined together we are great potential.

Thanks to our parents and grandparents on both sides of the family who have shown us the way. Thanks to our kids for showing us young love all over again. Thanks to God for giving us each other.

Algorithms for Life

For over 30 years I have been involved with technology. From keypunch card days and large mainframes, to modern web teams and powerful personal computers, I have been fortunate to be a part of the changes that have impacted the way we live and the way we do business. Part of my training and experience involved problem solving and analytical thinking exercises. From organizing data and workflow to produce desired results, or from developing application systems to process data, I’ve been involved in trying to critically create steps that will produce specific output. This process can be summed up in a single word that causes those who are math or science challenged to cringe. What is this word? It is: algorithm.

One web definition states that algorithm is “…a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps…” while another definition states “…any set of detailed instructions which results in a predictable end-state from a known beginning…”

Regardless of the definition, algorithms as “rules” or “steps” are created and followed to produce desired results. They will only produce results that are as good as the rules or steps created. As we wrote programs or followed instruction to complete some task, we often used the acronym GIGO: “garbage in… garbage out…” We see this humorously when we take an algorithm into the kitchen and try to prepare and cook a meal from a cookbook (essentially an algorithm of steps or instructions to follow to produce desired or expected results). With incorrectly followed steps we get a different meal result. With incorrect steps to follow we will also get differing results.

Authors abound in the leadership arena to provide steps on how to become successful in some venture. With over 60,000 titles at Amazon, there are algorithmic books that give us 21 steps to be a good leader by one author, or from following the mantra that you must first break all the rules. Many have created techniques to create leadership qualities in those that are already or aspiring to be a leader. In a Father’s Day card this year, my son states that he has me to thank for what he has become – this causes me to look closer at my son as a result and judge whether my algorithms on being a Father where successful. This causes me to look over my shoulder and consider all the algorithms of life that I have followed and determine if they will produce success and prosperity, or, have they been full of garbage.

Scripture gives us an early definition on how to be successful. When Joshua takes the reins of a nation following in the footsteps of Moses, God commands him:

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:8-9).

Prosperity and success came from attending to the 600+ instructions found in the book of the law. It was not a simple task easily followed, as there were many algorithms within the law to create a successful and prosperous life. Some tasks were designed to be followed by a select few, or even one, while other laws were followed by everyone.

Jesus provided several additional algorithms for successful living that were built upon the law of the Old Testament:

· Matt 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

· Matt 7:7-8 - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: ⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

· Luke 13:24 - Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Each of these produces results that are greatly desired, and the steps taken produce a better life. Another time Jesus was being questioned by a lawyer:

· Matt 22:34-40 - But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. ³⁵ Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, ³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Noticed His ending comment, “...on these two commandments’ hang all the law and the prophets…” The English Standard Version (ESV) translates this statement as this: “...On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets…” The root of instructions finds a home in the concept of Love. Not the love of this world – which will produce worldly results, but the love of God that gives us opportunity to love others as God has loved us – individually and collectively as His beloved individual and collected group of created beings.

I submit that this is the most important Algorithm of all times – Love God, Love your Neighbor. This produces results that truly create success and prosperity in a person’s life. Regardless of the algorithms that mankind has created to produce desired results, nothing; absolutely nothing will create more success and prosperity in our lives than following the Algorithm for Life.