If You Can’t Hear God’s Voice……
By Pastor Mark E. Becker

 My father-in-law was an architect, a man of deep faith, and a beloved father, father-in-law, and grandpa.   Because he also had been a pilot and flew occasionally, the story that follows came from one of his friends who also was a pilot.   The experience was both exciting and frightening, as this friend flew a small plane from the Midwest into LaGuardia Airport in New York City. It was a single engine plane that carried a total of 4 people – including the pilot. When they took off from the Midwest, the sun was bright and there were no clouds in the sky. 

 But, as they flew east, the clouds began to gather. First they were scattered and broken, and then they became thick and darker. It began to rain as they continued east.   The pilot started to realize that he was flying in a part of the country where a lot of other planes were flying. Becoming afraid of a mid-air collision, he decided to make his plane just as visible as possible, and so he put on all of the lights that he could. He said that he even turned up the panel lights, and then he turned on the cabin lights and then, the strong landing lights. And as the weather deteriorated even more, and he was getting to the point where things seemed quite dangerous, he decided that he would call on the radio for assistance. He called LaGuardia approach, identified himself and asked for assistance. But there was no answer.

 He tried again and there still was no answer, and the panic that the pilot felt had by now started to spread to others in the cabin.  He said that at one point, he turned and looked at the woman in the back seat, who was holding a pillow tightly against her face. She explained later that she wanted her friends to be able to recognize her in the casket. The weather became worse and the clouds got darker and now, with wind and lightening, it became very rough. At that point, it was only the seat belts fastened tightly that kept them from bouncing around inside the plane. 

 Finally, it occurred to the pilot that maybe – maybe he was using so much electrical energy for the lights that there was nothing left for radio reception. So he turned down the panel lights and turned off the cabin lights and the large landing lights. Then he picked up the microphone again and identified himself, and made his request. At the end of his transmission, he asked: Does anybody hear me?  

Very quickly there was a loud, clear voice that came over the speaker of the plane and said, “We hear you – we have in fact heard you all along since you first reported your position and asked for help, and we answered your call. We have been calling you many times since then, but apparently you don’t hear us. We have not only heard you, but we have been watching you on radar, and we know exactly where you are. We will now direct you to the airport.

 Consider – if you can’t hear God’s voice, if you pray and don’t notice the presence of God in your daily life, if you feel like you are alone out there, maybe you just have too much going on and haven’t taken enough time to sit and listen and pray quietly. I want to encourage you to find some time and space every day, and listen with expectation to the voice of God in this world. I would also like to suggest that you attend the “Worship Around the Cross” on Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., allowing for a little silence and meditation in your life.   If you can’t hear God’s voice, you may not be taking the time or finding the silence that is needed to really listen.