April 2002
Page 1 - Battle for the Soul of Man by Rick Joyner
Page 2 - God at the Supermarket by Carol Greenwood
Page 3 - The Master's Institute
Page 4 - The ARC: A New Way of Being Church
Page 5 - Director's Note
God at the Supermarket
by Carol GreenwoodDoes your carpet need shampooing? Have you considered vinyl windows? How long since you've had your chimney cleaned? Thought about aluminum siding for your home?
Sound familiar? Probably does. If you own a telephone, you'll be solicited for charities and political causes as well as products and services. And, if your house is like our house is, more often than not, the calls hit at prime time-dinner hour. I average at least four or five such calls a week.
Typically, I'm stir-frying veggies or grating cheese for pizza when the phone rings. The interruptions, by now, have triggered a conditioned response. I wipe my hands across the sides of my apron, head for the phone and answer less than enthusiastically.
Undaunted by my lack of cordiality, the salesperson plunges ahead with the latest pitch: "This is our finest offer. Prices will never be this low again." On and on it goes.
Like a robot, I come in on cue for this routine, "I'm sorry. We're not interested. Thank you."
Back at the stove, I resume dinner preparations while speculating about my caller. What's this person on the other end of the line really like? How does she cope with the continual rejection she gets?
One Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., I received three calls back-to-back. Carpet cleaning. Vinyl windows. Pest control. (I must admit that last one was tempting.) I'd barely returned to stir the simmering soup when the phone rang again. Wooden spoon in hand, I retraced my steps, grabbed the receiver and growled, "Hello."
"Carol, I hate to bother you at dinnertime, but I've gotta tell you what happened to me today. I'll only take a few minutes."
I recognized the voice of my friend Jackie. She sounded upbeat, almost joyful.
"Our soup can wait, Jackie. Tell me, what's up?""You may think this is far-out, but, believe me, it's true. Today while I was walking behind the university stadium on the path near the lake, so help me, Carol, God spoke to me."
What a change from hearing the pitch about clogged chimneys and aluminum siding that never needs paint! This was a call worth answering; it sounded like a breakthrough in Jackie's long stint of illness and depression. I encouraged her to go on. "What did God say?"
"Well, it wasn't an audible voice or anything dramatic. I was walking by where the ducks congregate at the edge of the lake. I wasn't praying or even thinking spiritual thoughts. Out of the blue, the quiet presence of the Lord surrounded me. My ears didn't hear it, but my heart was flooded with an indescribable wave of love accompanied by the simple message, 'Jackie, I love you.' Has this ever happened to you?"
I hesitated. More than once I'd been told how offensive Christians were with their insistence that God had just spoken to them. I know people, in fact, who are so turned off by the words "God told me" that they reject out-of-hand all the Holy Spirit's works in personally communicating the reality of Jesus' love.
The truth is we do have a God who longs to communicate with us, who works day and night getting His message out: He loves us! He is, in fact, relentless and stubborn in His persistence.
Jackie pressed me for an answer. I briefly told her of the afternoon in the supermarket several years ago when I sensed the Lord's breaking through a long spiritually dry and emotionally discouraging season to impress me with three little words: "I love you."
Like Jackie, I wasn't doing anything unusual, just standing in front of the canned fish debating whether to buy tuna or splurge on crab. Also like Jackie, I heard no audible voice, yet the inner impression was so strong I whirled around to see who had spoken. While I rarely mention it, I have never forgotten it. What is more, I believe the truth of it to this day - I "heard" the Lord.
Neither of these two incidents - Jackie's nor mine - should be used to suggest the norm for our believing God loves us. In fact, we'd best stand guard against the devastating practice of demanding an experience to justify our faith. We are only too well aware of our propensity for emotional ups and downs. Experience can be ambiguous, and we are called to be people of faith, believers of the Word.
However, there's another side to this coin. God's message is so much greater than the condemning ones we often give our own hearts. He is committed to override the fears, the lies and the unbelief that assail us. When He determines to speak to His people, He does it-through a burning bush, through His prophets, through His creation, through His Son, through Scripture and, yes, through a still small voice.
It's quite possible, I believe, in a world where impersonal dinnertime phone calls intrude into our homes and where we mentally replay old negative tapes about our self-worth, that the Lord of the universe commissions the Holy Spirit to give us His message - "I love you."
It can happen down by the lake or even in the aisle of the supermarket.
(Taken from A Rose for Nana by Carol Greenwood. McDougal Publishing. Used by permission.)
Carol Greenwood is a wife, mother of four and grandmother of ten. An author of two books and co-author of two others, she is a former editor for Women's Aglow. Carol has a heart for women's ministry and is a frequent speaker at churches and retreats. She is also on the Board of Lutheran Renewal. You may contact Carol to speak at your event by e-mail: "lrgreenwood@aol.com".
