Learning to Listen

The next few blogs will recount our family vacation to Colorado in August of 1996.  The story begins even before we drove away from our home in Bossier City LA. At this point I was an E-5 (Staff Sargent) in the US Air Force working in missile maintenance at Barksdale AFB LA. Laura and I began planning a family vacation.  The first real vacation we had ever attempted to take.  Normally our trips involved going to see either friends or family never just going away with no other purpose than to go away by ourselves.  so we set our eyes on Colorado.  So many people at church had gone there on vacation that we thought it must be the right place for us.  We had recently purchased a 1990 full size Chevy conversion van and we intended to put it to good use.  At this time we only had our first two children, the oldest Sam was not quite five and the youngest Josh was not quite three.
At the very start of planning this adventure I had an uneasiness in my heart.  God gave me no peace about the trip only concerns.  But ahead we pressed on with our plans.  We had been camping several times throughout our marriage, but not too many times with the kids.  We decided to make this trip more economical we should stay at campgrounds while in Colorado, this would prove to be one of many bad decisions.  We didn’t have access to the internet like we do today so I planned on finding a place at the visitor’s center once we came into Colorado or Colorado Springs.  Anyway how hard could it be there were several military bases in the area that should have campgrounds or even travel trailers that could be had.
About two weeks before the trip I told my wife that I really felt that God did not want us to take this vacation.  Not at this time or this place.  So what did I do – pressed on with my plans not His.  You might ask at this point what was I thinking and I would ask myself the same question.  To clearly know that God was telling me not to do something – yet doing it anyway doesn’t seem like the smartest thing today.  Trust me –it wasn’t. 
This reminds me of a section of scripture that deals with a man after God’s own heart.  Someone much more faithful to the Lord than myself.  King David  decided to take a census of the people.  You may remember that God commanded Moses to take a census of the people in Exodus 30:11-16, but He also said that a ransom was to be paid for each so that no plague would ensue. This is an implied command against numbering the people.  Motivation is everything, a matter of the heart. In other words to count what you have and sit back and place your trust or confidence in your possessions is akin to not trusting God.  David against the advise of Joab (he was fearful of tempting God’s wrath) the census was preformed and the judgment soon followed. You can read the whole story in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles 21.
So why did David do what he new was wrong?  Why did I do what I new was against what God was telling me?  Why do we disobey the clear teachings of God and follow our own desires if we really belong to Him?
I don’t know the answers to all of these but I can tell you that God disciplines His children (you can find that in Hebrews).  And after going through the calamities of this vacation I can tell you that I have learned to listen to God, to not only hear but to heed.  Its about learning to please God not ourselves.  Loving God more than ourselves.  Learning that His way is best and blessed.
Next time I will introduce you to the first few hours on our drive to an unforgettable vacation.
Sherman