What made Samuel a good listener?

I believe that good speaking must come from good listening. I believe it and yet I do not practice it nearly enough. I suspect that were I to take the years of research to view and analyze all the times I chose the wrong door I would find, at the beginning, a clear instruction I did not hear, or, accept.
A few months ago I was thinking about Samuel – I think I was supposed to be listening to a presentation at the time which makes what I am about to say a bit of an irony – and realized I could learn about listening from the young acolyte.
When he heard a voice he responded, not with a reply, but, with another question. What I hear is not always what has been said, even, when the words have been clear. “Are you tired?” seems a simple question that calls for many possible responses depending on the context. If asked by your teacher during class, for instance, it would call for an entirely different response than if asked by a mate after the evening meal.
The advice given Samuel to wait for the voice to be clear, as I read the text, reminds me to wait for the person who is talking to me to become clear. Like many I have a tendency to interject my words for the one talking and thus attempt to finish their sentences. A fatal flaw in a marriage and truly irritating in casual conversation. Like the young man I hope to learn to wait to hear if the voice is really for me or if the voice is meant for someone else.
When he wasn't sure what he was hearing he asked a wise counselor. Admittedly this involves an “over time” conversation. Although, I have noticed, with age comes some built in wise counselors. Past voices that speak to me from conversations long ago or books read in other settings. So whether the wise counselor is a voice in my head that sounds eerily like my deceased father or mother, or, a text from scripture, I am wise to listen and place it in the context of the present discussion.
Finally, once the wise counselor spoke Samuel followed the advice. When Samuel final responded to God’s voice it was with the words of his wise counselor. I have wondered that he never mentions that advice or the wisdom of the man under whom he trained. No doubt the parenting skills of Eli had something to do with this, but, I think the main reason is that the wise counselor is not the center of our hearing – but – our willingness to hear from other sources before decisions, or, even, responses.

Clarity for Conversion

The more I travel the clearer it is to me that humans do not communicate with as much as we communicate at each other. I don't mean to imply that we don't care if our message is clear. By all accounts we care very much. The most read How To...books are are about the lack of communication in marriage, parenting, friendships, politics, and, whatever your hot button issue happens to be. Not surprisingly mine is the Gospel. Wait for it! I can hear you sputtering now, "Which gospel?" and I appreciate your desire for clarity - hence this blogert (effort to explain by blog).
I just concluded a three week trip to Zimbabwe and, as a result spent hours going through security in airports, government compounds and road blocks. As I left on my trip I began by stripping myself of all metal objects for the screening. Not good enough. Seems the gum wrapper in my back pocket was one of the items to be removed before screening. Setting aside the debate over the potential for mayhem found in sugar free (paper, I might add) gum wrapper, I confess what I heard was, "remove all metal objects" when what was said (yes I hung around for the next announcement) was, "remove all objects..."
Naturally, I did the same thing while being screened in Ethiopia only to find that some objects, whether metal of otherwise, were Ok (eye glasses for instance) and was treated as a "slow" child in the class as I took off my shoes. My defense mechanism was to choose anger. These people must be "bad" screeners because they don't do it "right." They, on the other hand, considered me to be the "bad" screenee." Of course there was truth in both given your ethnicity or nationality. Every effort by both officials to announce clearly the procedures was lost on those for whom the local language and/or dialect was foreign.
Is it any wonder that so many people who enter our churches find themselves uncomfortable because there are so many "assumption possibilities" from where to park to when to stand the closing prayer/reading/greeting. So...don't expect guests (or some infrequent members) to understand what you thought you said in response to the question they didn't actually ask.

Follower of Jesus

I have always agreed and identified with the Apostle Paul’s finding that he/I is/am the chief of sinners. That has not posed a problem for me nor caused me to reflect on the paradox that I am pure before the Lord as a result of my acceptance of His Grace through the blood of Jesus. I have, however, wondered about calling myself a Christian when so many of my actions are not Christ-like.
Some weeks ago during a sermon I received an epiphany of sorts. It struck me that I am more of a follower of Jesus than a Christian. Since the first followers of Jesus were first called Christian after they began to preach the good news to people other than their own ethnic background I realize my own deficiencies.
I can – with all good conscience – call myself a follower of Jesus. I aspire to be a Christian and that aspiration takes legs when I follow Jesus.