We remember voices as human beings. There is something about the connection between two people that can be measured in a voice. One of the things that my children heard even moments after birth was my voice. For the first year of their life, my goal was to keep saying their name in tones they could recognize. Perhaps it was my pride showing but my hope was they would know who "dad" is as soon as possible. We all have emotional or mental responses to particular voices. Even voices that are similar to ones in our experience can lead to a wide spectrum of feelings. Sometimes those emotions are painful, negative and destructive. Sometimes those emotions can be warm, pleasant, and even loving. A single voice can take us in a variety of thought and feeling.

Baseball on the radio is the voice of summer for me. My childhood memories include tuning into a radio station on the AM dial to hear a game broadcast from St. Louis or Houston. Jack Buck would be carried along the airwaves into my bedroom in Linden, Texas. Saturday afternoons were marked by the game of the week on television. Vin Scully would deliver the play by play every week in his own unique style. That was over thirty years ago and his voice is still a voice that says it is summer. With our new satellite dish, my summer will again hear that voice as Scully broadcasts Dodger games. My eyes closed the other night while he called the game by himself with no other broadcaster to assist him. It felt like summer once again even though the calendar says it is still April. One of the roots for my passion for the game lies in the voices of the men who tell the story of what is happening on a nightly basis.

The application is about hearing God's voice. We talk a lot about praying but very little about God talking back to us. People in the Bible heard God talk to them on a regular basis and never felt they were odd. We end up being timid because some who say they hear Him truly seem a bit "off." Our fear is in being pegged with such a label. But the truth is that growing as a follower of Jesus means hearing Him speak to us. He does not speak in Greek or Hebrew but in ways we can understand. Perhaps it is similar at the beginning to my talking to my infant children but it does grow. Today my communication with my daughter is the process of developing that rapport over nearly 15 years. You may hear God speak as you read scripture alone in a quiet place. You can hear God speak when you reflect after a time of praying. You might even hear God speak while in conversation with others. One of my biggest decisions occurred in such a way. God speaks to His own today. Do His own listen anymore?

Bro. Trey