This is only a test…

It’s the first Tuesday of the month so we will be having a testing of the tornado sirens at some point. 

Although the sky is clear as a November sky can be with sun beaming down on us and nary even a hint of the winds that usually sweep across the prairie at a good clip 360 days a year, I will pause and be alarmed for a split second until it registers, as it has for most of my adult life…oh. yeah…first Tuesday of the month. 

The next thought that follows has also been a recurring thought for those same adult years…what would happen if we were actually having a tornado warning on the first Tuesday of the month? Everyone would just dismiss it as the test. 

This grown up thought was based on the early childhood thought of mine that the perfect time to attack the United States would be during the time in the evening when they did a test of the “Emergency Broadcast System”…anybody else getting a visual and sound replay of that fun event on your TV screen? Maybe just those of you as old as me…

Anywho…

This brings us to the point of today’s post which is, this morning it also occurred to me how Jesus never really got loud except the time He overturned the tables in the Temple. He was upset with how the money changers and sacrifice scammers had made His Father’s house of prayer into a market place atmosphere. 

(Side note…if you want to hear the best sermon ever on this, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBpT63Y-z4A)

So in three years of ministry, His voice of warning remained firm but not loud and obnoxious. 

I think how He send His disciples out and told them to go into a town, if they were received – stay and share the Gospel. If they were not, shake the dust off their sweet sandals and head on to the next town. 

Calmly, firmly, steadfastly…moving on…from town to town. Person to person. House to house.

We are told to be wise as serpents, but as gentle as doves.

We are told to restore people gently.

We are told to be bold, yes; but not loud and calculated and looking to be the star of the debate team. 

I don’t have time this morning to look up all the passages, and you could probably add some of your own if this is resonating. 

The point is, as I mentioned yesterday, the world is noisy and loud. 

If we are noisy and loud, we will blend in and the message that is so important for people around us to hear will be lost in the chaos.

If we are noisy and loud and we blend in; our urgent cry for repentance and a turning back to God will just sound like the rest of the clamor. 

So pray for how God can speak through your quiet life to those around you as you urgently pray and then graciously share the good news of Jesus Christ in the days we are given here on earth <3