How do we hear the voice of one who is invisible and very rarely uses sound waves to communicate with us? Throughout the Bible, it is made apparent that is is God’s desire to dwell among the people. Adam and Eve heard the voice of God in Genesis 3:8. In John 10:16, Jesus says his sheep hear his voice. Isaiah 30:21 says wherever we go, there will be a voice telling us which way to turn. I could go on and on.

But how do I hear gods voice? In our increasingly “noisy” world, distractions abound. As I sit here and type this, my email and IM clients “Ding” every few minutes, the fan in my laptop constantly slows down and speeds up, another computer is humming over in the corner, the ice maker dumps a batch of ice, cars are passing down the road outside, and every few minutes, I hear the AC unit cycle on and off. And, if that’s bad, then just wait until I set foot in the office on Monday. In our world today, it’s just way too easy get distracted, drift off into another world, and totally tune out God.

So what’s the solution? It depends. There’s no universal answer. For me, I’ve found that getting our for a few hours, or sometimes a weekend, and enjoying nature does wonders. I love to go back in the woods away from all the noise of the cars passing by, where cell phones don’t work - distant from all of the technical toys so prevalent in our “Wired” world - sit down on a rock next to the river, and spend some quality time with God. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Lots of unanswered questions and confusion as I walk with the Lord.

It’s absolutely amazing what getting away for just a few hours can do. I spent most of the day yesterday hiking and relaxing away from all of the distractions that are all around me much of the time. Here’s a couple of pictures of my little “outing” with God: