Did You Hear Something?

For those who have heard me rant before, you probably know that when it comes to people "hearing God", I am very skeptical. In the Christian circles I hear it all the time..."God told me it was time to change churches" or "I took this job because God told me to" or "God told me I should date her." I usually just roll my eyes (internally because the person is often looking right at me) and smile and nod.

All that to lead into this ...I decided to try something new at church (this will eventually tie in to the above statement). I am a person who does not like "Greeters". These are the official people who stand at the entrance to the door and shake your hand as you come in. They are official because this is actually their volunteer job and different people do it every week. I dislike it so much that I usually go in the "exit" door (our church has two services so when I go to the second service I just go in the door that most people who attended the first service are going out of). That way I walk in behind the greeters and don't have to shake their hand. Now I'm not against hand shaking, but I just feel it is so insincere. Do these "greeters" really care about me at all? Are they actually happy to see me or are they just doing their job? I've thought that I should try to stop and talk to them sometime as I walk in. I'm sure they would get completely flustered as I'd be in the doorway trying to talk to them and they would be trying to get around me to shake the hands of the other people coming in. I feel like it's an assembly line and there is no real care involved. And don't tell me they are there to help the new people...not once have they asked if I was new or if I attended regularly. Besides, that's what an Information Desk is for.

I feel that we should not have greeters because everyone who attends the church should be doing that all the time. I feel that the regular attenders of the church should be always looking around to see if there are new people there and go and talk to them. To me, that shows true caring because you are seeking me out and actually want to talk to me. Now our church also has "secret greeters" who do just that...their job is to "secretly" be watching out for people and then go and talk to them. That's a step forward, but to me it's still a job and all regular attenders should have that mindset all the time.

So, back to the "hearing God" bit. In order to put my money where my mouth is so to speak, I decided that I was going to try and get to know someone new each time I attend church. Today was the first day to try it. Due to a golf tee time at 11:45am I ended up going to the early service where I practically know no one and Shiela was also out of town so I was on my own. As I was walking up to the church this one guy glanced my way a few times as he walked into the church. I thought maybe I had cut him off on the road as I drove to church and so he was mad at me, but I didn't think I had done that. Then it happened...I thought I should go talk to this guy. This was the guy that God wanted me to talk to. God was telling me to talk to him.

I entered the church and figured maybe if it worked out I'd talk to him. After hanging up my jacket I had to spit out my gum so I walked into the bathroom. Low and behold, right by the door was this guy again, just standing there. I figured he was waiting for his wife or something from the girls bathroom. I walked right past him and didn't say a word. I pretended to get a drink of water and then figured I should really talk to him. So I headed towards him again and at the last minute chickened out again and went the other way down the hallway. The bad part was that this hallway went no where except to one Sunday school room which I obviously wasn't going into. I then had to turn around and walk by him again. Finally I gave in and walked up to him and introduced myself. He didn't say a word but just looked at me. I asked if he usually attended church and he said sometimes. I was at a complete loss as to what to say when suddenly the women's washroom opened up and his wife came out. They immediately walked off but being the stalker I am I rushed after them and introduced myself to the woman. She then told me her name and informed me that she was hearing impaired and that her brother (not husband as I had thought) was with her and she was teaching him sign language (she was very nice about this all). Then they walked into the sanctuary to the front where the church has someone who does sign language for the hearing impaired.

I stood there in the hallway thinking about what just happened. Did God really tell me to go talk to that guy and his sister or did I just think that? Was that my own mind that just made up those coincidences where I kept running into that guy. I mean, he never even really said much to me at all.

So here I am now still skeptical of how God talks to people. Will he really tell me each week who I should go meet? When people say God told them something, did He really or do they just think he did? Am I just hearing impaired when it comes to God's voice? Has God ever told you something? I'd love to hear about it (and no, I won't make fun of it).