about this weekend…

For some reason, Jen and I breed kids who have bad ears, nose and throat problems.  Our son, Owen had to have tubes put in his ears and have his adenoids removed sometime earlier this year.  Selah, our daughter, we are trying to get in for tubes sometime in the next month or so because she has had eleven bad ear infections in the past year.  The slightest sneeze or shift of the wind causes her to get ear infections.

In the testing process, I was amazed at how the doctors could test a little baby’s ears.  Make a sound next to one side of his/her ear and wait for a response.  If they heard it, they responded.  If they didn’t hear it, they didn’t respond.

Seems simple enough.

So why is it that there are times when I ask Owen to do something, and he completely ignores me?  I mean he has Superman ears (so we’ve told him)!  The hearing test came back – he hears just fine.  So why is it that he is fully capable of hearing me, but doesn’t do what I ask of him?

I have studied my children, and I think I have a pretty good understanding why they don’t respond to me when something is asked of them.  There are varying degrees in which they hear me, and varying degrees in which they respond.

1) There are times when they are simply stubborn and don’t want to do whatever I ask them to do.  They audibly hear me, but they don’t listen to me.

2) There are times when they want something from me, and so they will simply appease me.  They start to do what I ask of them, but because the work is harder than the reward deserves, they do they least that is required or simply give up.

3) Distractions.  They hear me, and intend on doing what I ask, but they both are as curious as George.  Owen says, “OK daddy, I’ll take my cup to the… Oh, look!  A bug.”  He is four and can’t hold a thought captive for more than a few microseconds.  Or, worse, he wants to play with his toys AS he is doing what is asked of him, so he becomes sidetracked.  Both of my children are easily distracted and simply forget the task at hand.

4) Success.  They hear me, understand what is asked and know if they are or aren’t doing it, and then proceed to take action.

As it turns out, Jesus has some pretty good insight in to this problem too.  This Sunday, we’ll dive in and study the varying degrees in which people hear God’s word, and respond to it.

Joe Braun, Pastor of Community Groups

(Oh, and I look forward to tasting everyone leftover turkey – so make sure you save me some 🙂

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Christmas Eve Service
Monday, December 24 at 5:30pm

Please Note | There will be no Sunday service on December 30
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