Are You Deaf or are You Dumb, Both?

There are many things in life that we cannot hear until we want to hear, and there are many things in life that God tries to tell us everyday that we are deaf to. For such a long time I was very lucky. I grew up in a family that attended a Methodist/United Church of Christ church. While it wasn’t always great I learned a lot about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Like most children I attended until I was out of High School and like so many youth as I left my parents home I left my church behind. For quite sometime I was okay. I may not have attended services but I stayed on the strait and narrow. Over time though I drifted away, and began to commit more sin without repentance. The further I got away the harder it was to hear the truth, God’s truth about the right way to live my life. I would occasionally get “bugged” by words in the back of my mind or from the depths of my heart. It all came to that fateful night though sitting on my couch. Cold, alone and in dire pain I felt nor could see no love. I felt utterly alone and then again I heard that whisper in the back of my mind and from the depths of my heart, “You know you need God.” I fought with myself. I called those thoughts stupid and old fashioned just a way to control me. The more I debated myself though the more I lost the argument. I began to reach out. It took time, you can’t undo years of stupidity in one moment. The more I shed my old habits the better I could hear. The more I chose to follow the better I could see, and the stronger I became. I found a new way through life in those “Old Fashioned” God ways. Now that I can clearly see I can’t help but speak about it. I don’t knock on doors or hand out pamphlets. I am a simple man. I sit here alone in the dark with my friend Jesus. I read I learn, I share. I found the Church that gave me a family. I am never alone and there I learn and become stronger yet still. I thank God for his patience for so many have given up on me. God did not give up he kept sending his son and his Spirit until I was ready to be deaf no more. 

Mark 7:31-37

31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap'olis. 32And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Eph'phatha," that is, "Be opened." 35And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."