It is to laugh. My former church member is being dragged-kicking and screaming-into the information age. The kicking and screaming part is over learning to use her new phone answering machine and cell phone. She was quite happy working an old, out-of-date machine, but now, she was coming to grips with a faster and better machine. I can remember she watched in awe as I showed her how to operate her machines without breaking a sweat.

Soon after, I am to instruct her in the art of using her new toys, and I can remember her words to me: "Pastor Neil, you can show me to use it. But the bells and whistles terrify me and, and I am not ready to jump into future relationship with these machines."

As we hear these stories of a people's initiation to relationship with God, do you get the feeling that they (and we) are undergoing a certain amount of intense preparation?

We should. God is checking out Israel from head to toe, restructuring and fine-tuning their lives to see if this people really can fit into the designs and rhythm of life the Lord has in mind.

The people needed conditioning, toughening up. Let them suffer enough so they won't turn away from the Lord once problems were resolved. They needed to learn thankfulness and order. They needed a framework for living in a land flowing with milk and honey, all outlined for them in these Ten Commandments.

There is a trouble spot, though. After the tablets are engraved with ten words, after all the thunder and lightning, after the blaring of the trumpet, the people are frightened out of their wits. "You speak to us, Moses, and we'll listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we shall surely die!" The people run the risk of not hearing.

A rabbi once said, "The mighty voice of Sinai did not stop." He mentions that later writings repeat this same idea that the voice of God did not stop. In fact, it is still giving the Law forever and ever.

The rabbi continues, "The thing that has changed," laments the rabbi, "is that we are no longer listening.

A shipping company had advertised a job opening for a ship's radio operator and the outer office was overflowing with applicants for the position. They were waiting to be called in turn, and were talking to each other loudly enough to be heard over the sound of the loudspeaker.

Another applicant entered, filled out an application, and sat quietly for a few moments. Suddenly, he rose and walked into the office marked "Private." A few minutes later, he came out wearing a broad grin-he had been hired.

A man in the waiting room protested. "Look here," he said, "We were here first, why did you go in there before us?"

The successful applicant replied, "Anyone of you could have landed that job, but none of you were listening to the Morse Code signals coming from the loudspeaker. The message was, 'We desire to fill this position with someone who is constantly alert. If you are getting this message, come into the private office immediately."

I guess most of us are in the habit of not listening. That is probably one of the main reasons why Verizon came up with the company slogan-Can You Hear Me Now? Maybe we are not paying that much attention to the world and to God.

In Richard Forster's book Celebration of Discipline, Foster pointed out that "Christian Meditation" is the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word." Furthermore, he said, "It (Christian Meditation) involves no hidden mysteries, no secret mantras, no mental gymnastics…the great God of the universe, the Creator of all things desires our fellowship."

But no matter how simple this activity is we fail to engage in the hearing of God's voice on a constant basis.

Moses learned how to hear God' voice and obey his many word as he spoke face to face-as a man speaks to a friend. There was a sense of intimate relationship, of communion.

As a people, however, the people of Israel were not ready for such intimacy or commitment.

Once they learned a little bit about God, they realized that being in His presence was risky business and told Moses so: "You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die." In this manner they could maintain religious respectability without the attendant risks.

It reminds me of that 10-10-220 that featured Dallas Cowboys star Emmit Smith and Alf talking to gentleman about making a call using 10-10-220. The man apparently does not want to do it because it would require a great deal of commitment from him.

That is why meditation and having a personal relationship with God is threatening because it boldly calls every person to enter into the living presence of God for ourselves. It tells us that God is speaking…and wants to address us.

How can we bring ourselves to hear God's voice? How do we receive the desire to hear God's voice?

One of the ways to do it is to discipline ourselves to find a time in which we can set aside for God to speak to us. This is something that we all struggle with since we are all busy. We just can't find time. But we have to. If we really want to benefit from the wisdom of God's voice

Now once we find the time we have to focus on listening to God's voice. We do that by tuning out the other voices-radio, television, relatives, friends, children, etc. For these voices have the tendency to block our ability to hear God's voice.

We struggle with this also since most of us are used to these noises as part of our lives. We like to have the noise around us. They make us feel comfortable or safe.

Remember when I said I struggled during my first week in the Midwest back in 1996. I just couldn't stand the quiet. The fact you can hear yourself think. Sometimes that can be scary.

But if we are to hear God's voice then we have to find a way to tune these things out.

Therefore, as I have said earlier, this will require disciplining ourselves. In Hebrews 12:11, "Now, discipline always seem painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

Therefore, we are to endure for the sake of discipline, as the Israelites had to learn to do. Athletes undergo rigorous training to discipline themselves to play the game well.

Olympic athletes don't reach such levels of achievement just because of luck. Hours of practice go into every movement. There are painful muscles, bruised joints, and instruction from the coach to do better.

But the athletes persevere, enduring the hardship and discipline of the coach so that they can perform their sport well, and also for the athletes to be able to finish the game well.

The problem with some athletes is that they tend to start well, but they don't finish well. With the Christian life, it is sometimes like those, as people tend to start well and then fizzle out in the end. Maybe we are tired, or maybe we are distracted, or confused by the many noise around us.

But God call us to have a good start and to finish well in this life that God calls us. Can you hear me now?

Friends, God call us to participate in an extraordinary life relationship with Him. Let us to so with intensity and fearless of spirit.

Above all, let us listen and not be afraid, for the Lord is preparing us for the Kingdom of God. Amen