why don't you understand me?

i was cleaning out a vehicle that i drive at work and "found" a tape with 4 sermons by a preacher in memphis. even though these sermons are 12 years old, they still can be applied to today. they are great sermons. if you want to listen to them just let me know. maybe some of you have heard of him, maybe not. i used to attend highland street coC when i was taking courses at nas millington when i was in the navy. harold shank was the preacher there. what a great man of faith harold is. he has these stories in each sermon that are like parables of today. i am going to share one of the points in one of his sermons.

stephen covey wrote about a man who was having problems relating to his son. the man told stephen that he did not understand his son, because he would not listen to him. stephen said, "let me see if i am getting this right. you do not understand your son, because he will not listen to you."

the father said, "yes."

stephen said, "i'm sorry but let me make sure i got this right. you don't understand your son, because he will not listen to you."

the father was getting a little perturbed, and he said, "that's the third time we've rehearsed this. yes, i don't understand my son, because he will not listen to me."

stephen said, "inorder to understand someone, you have to listen to them."

the father said, "oh."

have we ever been the father? i have. have we ever wondered why others just don't get it? have you heard what they had to say?

this problem has been happening in a lot of churches by others wanting the style of service to change and be more inviting to others in our community when visitors come by for a visit.

jeff walling has this great video of a lecture he gave in tulsa about the waves of change. he mentions the changes that are taking place in churches throughout the world. i can almost guarentee that if you went to another country, their services would not be the same as they are at your home church. why is that? do you think they are going to heaven? why can't they be like us? pretty presumptuous, is it not? i've been there. i know i'm not the only one, am i?

i have recently moved from the western part of the country in relation to where i live now. it might as well be the left coast, uh, i mean the west coast. the last church that i was a member of actually did sing songs that were not out of the song book. i might as well have been committed murder.

see, in my mind songs that are in the song book have not always been in the song book. before you start throwing darts and stones, try listening to the songs before you say they are bad.

i'm sorry, this post has gotten off the main subject. harold did not babble like this. what i was fixin' to say was that we need to listen to each other, and then understand what the other has in mind, before we try to force our way on them.

may God bless you more than He has blessed me!