Walking Through, part 2

So in my last post I talked about the fact that God speaks to us but that we need to listen for His voice.  Sometimes He speaks into our spirit, sometimes He speaks through His Word, and sometimes He sends someone to speak to us.

In this post I would like to give you an example of when He sends someone to speak to us.  What we must keep in mind when someone approaches us is that we must have the right attitude.  Everyone on this planet has a voice from the richest to the poorest, don't let looks fool you.

Just today as a group of us sat for Sunday dinner, we talked about how we need to treat everyone with respect regardless of their station in life because we never know where they will end up, and we definitely never know where and how we will end up.  It's not a matter of treating people right for what we can get from them; its treating people right because its the right thing to do.  The same cup of water you deny someone out of meanness, is the same cup of water you or your grand child could be denied 20 or 30 years from now.

As Christians we should be aware of who is trying to speak into our lives.  I believe we should be  attuned to what people are saying and if its not gelling with our spirit, we can always say 'thanks but no thanks', in a polite way.  But there are times when we know God sent someone, and we had better listen.  It may seem weird at first, but as we listen to the person we put everything together, even dissecting the conversation afterwards, to make sense of it all.  That's what happened to me.

I love the country of Belize.  Belize is in Central America, bordered to the north by Mexico, to the west by Guatemala and Honduras, and to the east by The Caribbean Sea.  If I were to describe Belize in one word I would say: eclectic.  There are mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and jungles.  All types of people live in Belize: Mayan Indians, Mexicans, Latin Americans, blacks of African descent, Caucasians, and Chinese.  It's people are just as eclectic as its landscape.

One day, on one of my many visits to Belize, I was sitting on my favorite beach relaxing.  There was hardly anyone on the beach and I was enjoying the opportunity to do nothing, something that is very difficult for me to do.  The day before, I had been in Belize City, where I usually stay for just one night before heading north or south.  I had purchased the usual souvenirs for family and friends, but one man was selling hand made beaded bracelets.  I remember being hesitant about purchasing the bracelet.  I  asked him about the color scheme, what it meant, he told me there was no particular meaning. 

So the next day, I'm on the beach relaxing, and this tall fair skinned, apparently Indian man seemed to come out of nowhere, walking down the beach.  I had never seen him in my previous visits but did not think anything of it until he walked up to me and crouched down next to my lounge chair.  He did not try to hit on me, he did not try to make small talk, he got straight to the point.  He pointed to my bracelet and asked me if I knew what the colors meant.  I was immediately interested.  I told him I did not know, it was just a bracelet I bought in Belize City the day before.  He told me in a polite manner, that I had no reason to wear that bracelet, it was not for me.  I hid my shock and when he finished talking to me he told me to have a nice day and walked away. I have never seen him again.  Needless to say, I did not like the fact that I had spent money on something I would have to throw in the trash, but in the trash it went.

I have never forgotten that 'conversation', he did all of the talking, but I will always believe God sent him.  Whatever was going on with that bracelet, God was protecting me, I have no doubt.   As I posted in Walking Through part 1, we need to listen to and for God's voice.  We also need to obey his voice.  How do we know its Him? We have to spend time daily with Him.  We need to cultivate and maintain our relationship with Him, just as we would with any relationship of importance.  When we cultivate and maintain relationships, we get to know the voice of the person we are in relationship with, even if our backs are turned when they walk into the room.  Its the same with God's voice.