Monday, February 21, 2011

God Doesn’t Screen His Calls

One of my increasingly irritating pet peeves is this: In order to do my business with banks, government agencies or online stores, I must talk to robots. When I had post-op pain last week, I tried to call the advice nurse. I had to sit through several options and sub-options that didn’t address my problem. There was no “if you’re in pain from post-op surgery and would like to talk to a “living” nurse, please press ‘7’.” Instead the robot only allowed me to choose the ambiguous “press 4, for ‘other’.” It’s the same with all business now. I understand it’s just their way of screening calls.

So you’ll appreciate how pleased I was the other day when I called the Napa County Recorder’s office and a “live” person answered the phone. She then transferred me to another “live” person who answered all my questions and then (shock!) asked: “is anything else I can help you with?” It has been a long time since I called an agency where someone actually picked up the phone.

In all of this, I’ve been thinking “Aren’t you glad we don’t have to go through angels or intermediaries to speak with God?” What’s more, aren’t you glad that God doesn’t use something like “caller ID” to screen his calls? Amazingly, the God of the universe answers when you call. “I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God” (Psalm 17:6 NLT).

1 comment:

  1. Greg,

    I can appreciate your illustration. Although I personally have only encountered this irritating "tech-phenomena" on occasion, it is only because my wife handles most of the business of the household and SHE gets to deal with the robots on the other end of the line. Yes, Greg, I am with you and am truly grateful for God answering my heart's cry directly...with no screening process!

    I do have an issue, however, with the "dead zones" that happen--both with my carrier as well as with the carrier of the people I am talking to on the other end. Some visible or invisible barrier prevents a clear signal and I lose the connection; or, I find that there are not enough "bars" in a given location; or, I failed to charge up my phone adequately and it "dies" on me. It seems that there are a lot of telecommunication devises we use that fail to mirror the faithfulness of God to hear and answer when His children want or need to speak with Him!

    Stan

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