The still small voice-- Thursday morning I woke up extra early to go out and practice. It’s in the 105 degree range and I had a class that I teach in the morning so I went out to work on my game early. There is an area where I usually practice my short game that always has extra balls lying around, so I take advantage of it. One problem with the area is that it is risky. It’s an area where they don’t put much effort in to the maintenance. The range picker sits there and it’s a little rough. The bonus for me is I can hit ¾ wedge shots into the green. But the risk sometimes bites you. I have been hit by shanked drives in the leg, forearm and back. You also have to contend sometimes with meat bees. If you are not familiar with a meat bee, it’s a wasp that looks like a bee that lives with its colony in the ground. I have been bitten by one before at the same course, before I knew that they could bite. But now I was familiar with them. I am allergic to stings, so I swell up quickly. This morning while enjoying my practice time, I noticed some of the balls next to a small hole in the ground and a couple of the bees flew out to protect their kingdom. But I continued to hit balls as a one of them continued to buzz around me. I would swipe it away, but it continued to try and land on me. I began to think immediately that I needed to get out of there but I wanted those extra balls to hit on to the green. After about a minute of swatting at the bee, I walked away from the area. I thought it would be clear, but as I went to hit the next ball, that little sucker came back and landed on my ear, I swatted it away. I put my club next to the ball and it landed on my right wrist. As I started to swat at it, it bit me. Now I have a swollen wrist. What’s the lesson here? Sometimes we take risks that are not wise. When we play golf we may take a shot that is risky, but for some reason you felt comfortable to pull it off and you did. But for most of us, there is usually a small nudge or voice that says to us, “Don’t take the risk”. You see, I knew I was taking a risk with the meat bees. I didn’t listen to the little voice in my head that said, “Don’t mess with em’, you’re gonna get bit”. You have been there before, maybe with a hammer or a knife. You make the unsafe move and “ouch”! Now, a swollen and itchy wrist is not that big of a deal, but I was reminded of the small voice that I sometimes turn away from. You know, that voice that protects us from harm and all together bad choices. How many times have we turned from that voice because we wanted something that wasn’t meant to be ours? In the book of Hebrews chapter 3 the story of Moses is being used as an example of how the Israelites did not listen to God, so they were stuck in the desert for forty years. Hebrews 3:15 “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” When we turn our spiritual ear away, our hearts begin to harden and the voice will eventually be too distant to be heard. One of the most important lessons I have learned in my years working with men is that once a man begins to train himself to listen to that voice and experience it as a relationship, he will then begin the process of becoming a fully functional disciple of Jesus. I realize there are all kinds of areas we could touch here, but I want to focus on one, listening to the “Still small voice”, God’s voice! Are you listening? “Listening to God's voice is the secret of the assurance that He will listen to mine”. --Andrew Murray