Do You Answer The Phone?

If you are in the flow of current society at all, you have noticed that people don’t answer their phone anymore.

Why is that?

Well, there’s an abundance of reasons. A swarm of telemarketing calls would be one reason. The second reason is there are so many forms of communication now, that one can go “gaga” trying to keep up with them all. A third would be that the majority of the population favors “texting” over talking.

The negative side of texting is that you don’t have the “responsibility” of being socially polite.

You can respond to the texter when you feel like it and you don’t have to say hello or goodbye.

In public places, you notice that people are on their phones constantly. They’re texting while they are grocery shopping and talking on the phone while they are walking the dog. When they are not doing either, many have headphones on listening to music . . . or whatever. I have also noticed that more often that not, when I do get someone to pick up and actually talk, there is a bunch of racket in the background, because they are doing some task or tasks while they are talking. Have we become so busy that we must always be multi-tasking? I guess so.

Some young people take pride in the fact that they can text with both hands without looking at the keyboard. A few years back I was giving some instructions to my assistant, and she was taking notes on her phone, fingers of both hands flying at breakneck speed.

But there is a downside to all our technical advances. The Millennials and Gen Z are suffering from increased depression and suicides, because reasearch has found we really need to talk. Bad algorithms on such medias as Tik Tok have also pushed young people to more depression and suicides.

You might call me old fashioned, but I still like to talk, and it frustrates me to no end when people absolutely refuse to answer their phones. One person texted me and said she didn’t have time to talk, but she would text. I told her, “Sorry, I don’t do long conversations via texting.” A long conversation via texting will take more time than just getting on the phone and talking. Makes no sense!

In my regular workday, I spend a lot of time writing articles and reading to refill my knowledge tank so that my writing has value. When it’s time for a break the Lord often prompts me to make some calls. So, I start through my contact list and make calls. But do people answer?

For the past ten years or so a pattern has emerged. Usually, it takes nine or ten calls before someone answers their phone, and that pattern is pretty consistent.

So when I’m not feeling like making nine or ten calls, there is one person I call. Why? Because he nearly always answers his phone. How refreshing! There is one person in my life (besides my wife) that answers their phone. I might add that he gets more calls from me than anyone else.

Now, I want you to consider looking at this phenomenon from a different angle.

Does God ever call you? Do you know if He calls you, because if you are continually preoccupied with all of your business, you may never hear Him when He calls.

That’s a little scary on your part, don’t you think? Maybe He’s been trying to get through to you for a long time, but you don’t know it because you never answer your phone.

If this is the case, do you wonder what He wants? Maybe He wants to talk to you. Do you think missing His calls might change the course of your life for the bad? What if on the judgement day He asks you, “Why didn’t you ever answer my calls?” It will be too late then to do anything about it. That’s scary, isn’t it? If it isn’t, it should be.

So now, here is yet another angle. Let’s just say God has a phone and He gets on His phone and begins dialing numbers. If He is like me, He will have to make nine or ten calls before He gets anyone to answer. So, what if He has a job He really needs someone to do, but the first ten people He calls don’t pick up their phone?

What do you suppose He will do then? I think He will call that one person that always answers His phone, don’t you?

My Fight With A Tree

We recently came back from a 10 day ministry trip to Minneapolis and Wisconsin to raise money for my book and get it across the finish line.

While we were there, we were asked to do a tree job for a friend. The second day I was working on a large tree that had fallen across the neighbor’s fence. My friend who has been doing trees for many years said, “A tree has a mind of its own. You never know what it is going to do.”

Though I have been working with a chain saw since I was 15 and never had an accident, the record was broken that day. I was sawing through a thick part of the tree, looking for it to begin to move slightly, indicating it was ready to give way. That’s when you get out of the way in a hurry. It never “moved slightly.” It suddenly snapped off and hit me in the head and shoulder. We got to emergency in about ten minutes where they put 12 staples in my head.

I have healed up very nicely, had the staples out last Friday, and now it’s nursing very stiff and sore muscles.

No question God was there. It could have been much worse.

Why do we make these trips to the Minneapolis and the surrounding area?

Because it seems that we have to see people in person for them to give a contribution to our ministry.

This creates challenges for us because we have to find lodging or some friends to stay with. This last trip, Lorraine drove between 4 to 8 hours a day for 10 days. It takes gas and food money. The goal in the end is to hopefuly come home with some money.

If you are being blessed by our leters, we ask that you consider making a contribution to our ministry.

A Special Thank You

We thank Paul and Juanita of Circle Pines, Minnesota and JoAnn of Sandstone, Minnesota for sharing their homes with us.

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

All Contributions are tax deductible