My Favorite Story Ever?

I LOVE stories. I collect them. I retell them.

Stories help me to make sense of the world in which we live.

So deciding which 1 is my favorite would be difficult, if not impossible.

But if you held a gun to my head and made me choose, this one just might be it.

Imagine a young boy spending the night at his grandparents' house. After he has gone to bed, the boy, Samuel, hears someone calling his name. He goes into the living room where grandpa is reading by the fire.

"What is it, grandpa?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh. OK" Samuel replies and heads back to bed.

A few minutes later it happens again.

"Samuel."

He gets up a 2nd time, heads into to see what Grandfather wants. But again, Grandfather tells him he didn't call for Samuel.

When this happens a 3rd time, Grandfather finally clues in.

"Next time you hear the voice say this: 'Speak God, for your servant is listening.'"

That's about what happens in the Book of Samuel in the 3rd chapter. In that one conversation, Samuel learns to discern for himself when God is speaking.

I wonder, has anyone ever taught you how to listen for the Voice? I've never heard it audibly. But I've had impressions, thoughts, ideas, and feelings that came from outside of me. They were a sense that Something was happening beyond me.

This one story sums up, to a large degree, why I feel like I was put on the face of the earth for however long I'm here. And it describes why I do what I do. (I collect my check to pastor a church. But my passion is helping people learn to discern God's movement in and around them.)

I'd consider it a privilege to help you do the same.

Grace & peace