Listen to Me!!!!

My husband and I were standing in the check out line at the grocery store with our 12 year old son, Gabe. Gabe is probably the sweetest, most kind and loving child that God ever created. But, Gabe is a talker. When I say this boy talks a lot, he talks A LOT! He talks about school, games, the military, television shows he watches, his friends, he tells stories, he asks questions he just talks and talks and talks. I’m sure at this point you’re thinking, "Wonder where he gets it?!?!" Plus, Gabe thinks that you have to be looking at him to hear him so if he begins to talk he will call you, "Momma" "Daddy" and if you don’t look at him he will begin to tap you and say a little louder, "Momma" "Daddy." He is a persistent little man and he will not stop until you stop what you are doing, look directly at him and listen to what he is saying. So many times Shane and I have said "Gabe, we don’t have to look at you to hear you, Son."

So, this one particular day as we are standing in line to check out Gabe is on a roll and had been for about the hour and a half that we had been in the store. It was constantly, "Daddy listen, Daddy look at me, Daddy!!" Shane slapped his hand on the back of his head close to his neck, up across the top of his bald head, down his face to his chin in utter frustration and said, "Son, please, for just five minutes stop talking so we can get checked out." Gabe stops talking for a second and Shane begins to unload the grocery buggy placing the items very meticulously onto the conveyor belt when Gabe takes a deep breath and says, "Daddy, did you know..." I honestly thought Shane would have a breakdown right there in the check out line. He quietly bends over to Gabe and he says while gritting his teeth, "Son, the Bible says spare the rod spoil the child and you need to understand that I’m a real righteous man!" Shane stands back up thinking he has made his point very clear to Gabe and that the cue will be taken and there will be silence for at least five minutes and about that time Gabe, my sweet precious Gabe, looks at Shane and says, "What’s that supposed to mean?!?!" I turned my head to the side to keep both Shane and Gabe from seeing me laughing and Shane’s voice began to fade as I started fumbling through the magazines on the rack.

A little time has passed since that took place but today as I was driving to work the most amazing thing happened. It is a rainy day here and I was running behind and I was getting caught by every single red light in the greater Birmingham area when my truck made a beeping sound. I looked down at the dash and it said "Low Fuel Level." I mashed the reset button and continued on. I began to pray asking God to bless my blog and give me a story to tell and about that time the truck beeped again. "Low Fuel Level" displayed on the dash. Once again I mashed the reset button in frustration thinking "I know you need gas but not right now!" I continued my prayers when the dog-gone truck BEEPED AGAIN! And, at that moment I felt in my heart that God was "beeping" at me to get my attention. Just as Gabe wants us to look at him when he talks God wants our full attention when we talk to him too. In Matthew 6:6 he says, "...when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." I began to laugh out loud and looked directly up towards heaven and said "God you are so awesome!" I rushed into the parking deck, backed my truck up (as quickly as I could but I’m not a real good backer-upper so it took me a few minutes), all but ran into the building so I could get to my desk and post this story. When things are going wrong and you don’t know what else to do, just catch your breath and remember that God is beeping at you just to get your attention!