Who Am I Hearing?

I’m fairly certain that at some time or another every single person in this room has heard something that you couldn’t identify. A random noise in the house that you’ve had to hunt for, words floating across your hears from a voice you don’t recognize and can’t see, or even had that lovely experience of having a conversatoin with someone who, while speaking perfectly good English, you absolutely cannot understand. Its actually a fairly regular occurance in our house. That’s probably unsurprising to you. Three children create a ton of extraineous noise. Sometimes, that noise is identifiable. I have become used to hearing the outbreak of an argument over a toy and the inevitable crying that will soon follow no matter who “had it first.” I can also identify my kids laughter pretty well. Hunter and Hadley are definitely giggle-prone, so those are noises we hear quite often. Hunter also talks to himself a lot while he plays. He’s got his toys and he talks to them and we will walk past his door and hear him talking away as he plays. Blocks clunking together, the sounds of a ride-on toy playing its song, or the sound of a kids water bottle slamming down o the table are all noises we know on the spot. We know them because they’re so common in our lives that they are unmistakable. Sometimes, though, the noises we hear in our house aren’t as easily identified. In December of 2009 I moved into my apartment in Tyler. The apartment complex was right next to the church building. It was a fantastic location which made for a very short commute, and I could afford it, so those things were in its favor. It wasn’t, however, a classy place. It wasn’t even remotely nice, but it was a bed and a roof so it was more than good enough for me. It was, however, sketchy eough several people who had lived in Tyler far longer than I had advised I not move in there. After Lindsey and I got engaged, she made it clear that we would not be living there once we were married. In the six months I lived there, several apartments were broken into, and I was aware of that each and every night when I locked up and called it a day. So in the middle of the night one night I woke up a loud, loud crash that, in my sleep, sounded like breaking glass and crunching blinds. I had one of those sliding glass doors that came in and out of the back of my apartment that had tall vertical blinds and I was certain what I had just heard was someone coming through that glass. Thats not exactly how I wanted to wake up, but it is defintely the fastest I’ve ever gone from dead asleep to wide awake in my life. So I started yelling through the wall at whoever had just broken in, “Get out! I’ve got a gun!” which wasn’t true if you’ll forgive me that lie.... nothing. I heard nothing. No one running away, no one tearing through my apartment not that there was anything worth stealing in it. Silence. It took several minutes of me standing there will 911 punched into my cell phone waiting to hit the call button before I was convinced that whoever had broken in has slipped out. I slowly opened my door and peaked around the corner and was absolutely stunned to see the sliding glass door intact and shut with the blinds drawn. How thoughtful of the intruder to tidy up on their way out. So clearly noone broke in- but what on earth did I hear. Turns out it was shower curtain rod that had fallen down in my tiny echo-prone shower.

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.