Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Voice


Hello Friends.
Listen up I have a message for you.  And to help keep your attention I am going to throw in some photos of yesterday as MOM and I helped our friend Zoie.  She is training to be a SAR Dog and MOM and I got to get ourselves lost so she could find us.  This was Zoie's most challenging training session yet and I am happy to say she did GREAT!  As a SAR's Dog Zoie must listen to her handler, her mom's voice, and maybe more importantly her mom has to listen to Zoie to find those who are lost.  Hearing and listening to the voice got me and MOM to thinking.

My MOM loves baseball and it's the heart of Little League season, those spring days when children get their first experience of playing on a team, of learning about the rules of play, and of listening to and heeding their coach.  She can still remember that first voice spoken into her ear as she stood at home plate, gripping the bat like a lifeline, waiting for that first pitch.  Some voices stay with us forever.   What voices have spoken into your life?   Can you still hear them?

There are voices of encouragement that urge us to keep trying, keep working, keep doing what we know is right.  There are also those voices we hear that accuse us of not being good enough, of being a failure, of not deserving anything better than what we’re getting.

The voices we listen to in our heart and soul can strengthen us or shatter us, push us forward or pull us down.  The power of the Voice we ultimately answer to can determine the destiny and direction of our life.

In the Gospel of John, it's the power and authority of Jesus’ voice that transforms the life of one man.   It was also the voice that challenges the preconceptions of many others.   Jesus, is in Jerusalem for one of Judaism’s many annual festivals.  But he does not settle himself among the other pious pilgrims.   Instead he wanders north to the “Sheep Gate” and the healing pool found there.

The “Sheep Gate” was a place that showcased human frailty and misery.   Among all the ill and incapacitated, Jesus’ eye immediately discerned an especially distressing case — a man who had been suffering with illness and infirmity for thirty-eight years!   It's to that individual that Jesus turns his attention and voices his offer — “Do you want to be made well?”

At first this seems like a ridiculous question.   Of course that ill man, lying on the ground, waiting for someone to place him in the pool and to stir up some healing waters that he can bathe in.  Surely he wants to be well.  But where is this man’s family and friends?   Where are those who might have helped him make it to those waters.

We all have “voices” in our heads that tell us good things and accuse us of bad things.   We all have voices in our heads that encourage us to greatness or implode us to destruction.   Jesus’ voice offers a startlingly new sound — the unexpected, unprecedented voice that offers a completely new possibility.   Jesus’ voice does not offer advice.   Jesus’ voice does not offer judgment.   Jesus’ voice offers nothing less than the possibility of complete transformation.

The power of a voice is both in its projection and in its reception.  The hit reality show “The Voice” first focuses on the purity of the verbal talent being projected.  The celebrity judges  listen to contestants with their back turned.   With no “eye-candy” distracting them, these judges hit their “yes” button based solely upon the quality of “the Voice.”  Later in the competition these judges have to pit their personal choices against each other.   But before that competition they act as personal coaches for their chosen singers  These celebrity coaches encourage these singers to find their own voice.  To make the song they are singing their OWN song, no matter who wrote it, no matter what its style.

Hearing “the Voice,” the voice of God as proclaimed by the voice of Jesus, is what makes us disciples of the living God.   But we need each other to hear the Voice and to find our own voice, the voice that God gave us when God made us.  Hearing “the Voice” also makes us “coaches,” whispering voices in the ears of the others.
Cameron Lyle, a 21-year-old Division I varsity athlete at the University of New Hampshire, heard the Voice and it changed his life forever.  It also is saving another life.

That's Cameron
A couple of years ago, in a school cafeteria, Lyle allowed his cheek to be swabbed to join a bone marrow registry.  He was told at the time that there was a one in five million chance for a non‑family match. Well, a few months ago he learned that he had hit the jackpot.   He was a perfect match for a stranger, a 28-year old young man with cancer.   Without the bone marrow transplant, that young man only has six months to live.

The kicker is that a bone marrow transplant leaves the donor in such a depleted condition that you can hardly raise your hands above your head, much less throw a hammer and discus.   So to donate his marrow meant Lyle had to forfeit his final season on the university track team.

Lyle said his decision to give up athletics, to help someone else, was “kind of a no‑brainer.”   Almost at the same time you are hearing this story, Lyle will be making the bone marrow donation at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

God’s Voice is spoken most definitively, most decisively, in Jesus the Christ, “God with us” (Emmanuel).   But God’s Voice is also heard in the Scriptures, in history, in nature, and in our conscience, or as Paul puts it, “conscience also bearing witness” (Romans 2:15).

Can you still hear The Voice.   Is your heart still open to hearing The Voice so clearly that you could say, as Cameron Lyle did, that to sacrifice for another was “kind of a no-brainer?”

Blessings,
Goose





35 comments:

  1. Goose - thank you for sharing this beautiful message. I just sent your message to all in my family. Indeed I hope it would be a nobrainer.

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  2. Beautiful post! Have a blessed day. XOXO

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  3. What a wonderful post, with a wonderful message!

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  4. Hey Goose, that is a beautiful message. Me and My Vickie loved it so much. And boy those were great pictures.

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  5. What a great post! Not only was the message one that we needed to hear today, but the photos is stunning!
    Thanks yous to yous and your Mom!
    Kisses Nellie and Mom

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  6. Goose, we loved your beautiful message. And the pictures too. Have a wonderful Sunday
    Hugs
    Bailey Hazel & Greta

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  7. We just love your beautiful messages. Thank you so much for sharing them with us. xoxo Chloe and LadyBug

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  8. I wish i was close enough to attend your church. and i needed this lesson today. and no The Voice is not speaking to me like he used to, thanks for the slap up side my head... amazing man amazing story amazing God that he takes us back over and over and over.

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  9. This is a beautiful post, goose. Momma always pray that she hears His voice, His instructions clearly. Momma loves Jesus.

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  10. We heard about Lyle this week too. What a wonderful thing he did, without even questioning it. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday Goose.

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  11. We loved this post Goose..... YOUR mom has great words and a wonderful VOICE too.

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  12. That was truly beautiful Goose & Mom! Such wonderful words and pictures fitting the story perfectly.

    We always listen for The Voice at our house.

    Hugs,
    Lily Belle & Muffin

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  13. We've heard of Lyle, and are so completely overjoyed in the selfless decision he made. He is so inspiring.

    Sam

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  14. Woof! Woof! We Do!!! Golden Thanks for sharing such a Beautiful Message this SUNDAY. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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  15. Oh that is such a good post. We loved reading that message and sure do listen for that voice. What a great guy to donate his bone marrow. That is such a great story. There really are some fantastic people in the world and we don't hear enough about them. Take care Goose and Mom.

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  16. Oh wow what a post, Goose... I can hear the voice sometimes inside me and I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for a wonderful message, mom read it to me and I listened in silence . Have a wonderful sunday Goose&Mom

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  17. You always have such great messages, Goose and Mom. And your words are written in a way to bring so much good sense to others rather than lofty meaningless ones. Lyle is quite the inspiration, isn't he? Mom says your Sunday posts always help get her in the "spirit" before she heads out to Sunday services. Thank you.

    Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

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  18. Thanks Goose & Mom, great words of inspiration, got to say we have heard the voice and try to follow it. Dad here, we know Susie has heard a voice, first from all here and now she has hear it and it has changed her to become a wonderful dog, in lieu of the scared, beaten and near death pup! She has taught us how to hear also!

    Love you words each Sunday
    The Mad Scots & Peeps

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  19. Goose and Mom this is the most beautiful heart touching post and yes we do hear the voice!
    Especially of late as mom has ponder Grandpa's horrific accident and passing. Grandpa had lots of healthy issues. Needless to say passing from such an accident left us puzzled but God is the Planner we know he has a purpose for everything.
    God Bless Kyle, the recipient of his bone marrow give the doctor's infinite wisdom.
    Hugs Madi and Mom

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  20. WAH ROOOOOOOOO ZOIE... THAT is super! It was good of YOU and your mom to get LOST.. fur her!! EXCELLENT!!

    Love this post!

    BASEBALL... ???? Did you say BASEBALL? PLAY BALL!!!!

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  21. Hari OM
    OH Goose... all those gorgeous pix added strength to your message. Hearing the Voice is a wonderful experience and we indeed have to be ready. Sometimes it takes us unexpected places, but as long as we are trusting His Will for us, that we are in exactly the place He wants us to be, the fear drops away, isn't it? I think you are fearless, handsome, secure in your being and filled with the Love with the capital ell!! Thank you for this sharing. Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty.

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  22. Lyle is a remarkable young man. We wish him all the best. Lee and Phod

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  23. I'm crying reading this. Cameron is an amazing young man.

    I know I let the negative voices from my childhood hurt me. Thanks for the reminder to listen for the good!

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  24. WOW Goose what a great message and would we be able to give up our passion for someone else at a drop of the hat??? Gives us something to really think about.
    yep, we should listen for the good and God is so good to us, so we must listen to him for sure!! I gots my ears open here!!

    wags
    Jazzi and Addi

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  25. Oh Goose, I loved that postie!! I read it to Ma twice (well, I really wanted to see your beautiful mug agains!! BOL)
    Kisses,
    Ruby

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  26. That was a wonderful message for us Goose. It was so beautiful that mom is not going to let me make a comment about the voices in her head. Have a wonderful Sunday. Mom said she saw your mom but only had a minute to chat. We hope things are going well for you two!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  27. That is an awesome story. :)

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  28. Beautiful story with beautiful pictures. It really gives me something to think about.

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  29. Goose, this is such a beautiful post! Mom said it's very important to let that Voice guide us. Sometimes we hear other ones (like … say … a certain new sister bossing me around) but I try to ignore those ones. :)
    Seriously wonderful post, though, brother.
    Play bows,
    Zim

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  30. Goose...We love it when your momma explains things like this. Gorgeous pictures of you are nice too. Thank you, Goose.

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  31. That's an incredible story of Cameron. He most definitely has found his own voice, and is an uplifting example to all of us. I think that "finding your voice" may be the journey of a lifetime.

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