Date: 19 Feb 2018 Comments: 0

Catching up on the second lesson I missed this week. My verse selection was difficult this time because there were a few scriptures that resonated with me. I almost picked a different one but ultimately stuck with what I have. But before I explain what that is, I must give you the preface. There is a very popular song on the Christian radio station Air1 by the artist Micah Tyler called “Different” which talks about many different personality traits that we as Christians should follow to show that we are not like our non-Christian peers. He sings the song in a way that shows that he is singing about his own challenges just as much as he is singing to other believers. The opening line of the song says “I don’t wanna hear any more, teach me to listen. I don’t wanna see anymore, give me the vision.” These are two very human traits – ‘hearing’ where our brain receives the audio signals from elsewhere and we simply move through without thinking deeper; as well as ‘seeing’ – in which our eyes take in visual queues from the world around us and it does what it must to keep us safe but we rarely enjoy the beauty of that moment. As I listen to the terrifying things that have happened in Florida and all over the world, I see people who react in many ways – some are political, some are judgmental, and some try to ‘set the record straight’. I am a habitual ‘record straightener’ and am known for seeing random internet tabloid material such as “enter your pin backwards at the ATM to notify the police” (which does not work by the way) and then blasting out a link to snopes.com to show why that’s not true. In some cases, this is a good thing because people really don’t realize that much of what they read or see is not true (even if partially true). You might think that my verse of the day: “Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.” (Proverbs 18:13, NLT) is going to be used to directly support this but there’s more to it than that. Sometimes, ‘facts’ are more than just the bits of truth and logic connected to a story. Sometimes, the facts are the emotional reasons behind why someone does something or why something is more important than we might realize. So the next time you are about to spout off your response, listen to what is being said and think of why someone is saying it more than just whether it is right or wrong.