I can feel the vibration of my cell phone rolling across my desk as it dances impatiently waiting for me to silence it. As usual I glance at the screen to see the I.D. of the caller…don’t judge me…you do the same thing! Seeing who the caller is I pick up the phone and answer with the standard, “What’s up homie,” which anyone who knows me expects to hear, or something of the sort as a term of endearment welcoming them into conversation. The voice on the other end of the phone is familiar, yet somber, and it is immediately apparent that there is something of great weight balanced squarely on the neck of this individual. You know the tone of voice that I am referring too…the one that sounds like a herd of buffalo is sitting on the person’s chest. So heavy that it is impossible for the person to convince you otherwise in terms of how they are doing. The usual routine persists though, “how ya’ doin’,” I say, and they of course respond, “good.” Both of us knowing that this is just the game we are taught to play socially…I mean who really wants to know how I am “really” doing when asked. So the dance begins and I oblige by staying on the surface during the bulk of the conversation. Near the end of our socially correct dual that the two of us have engaged in I finally ask the hard question that was going through my mind the entire time. Once asked there is a silence on the other end of the phone…you know the kind that makes you say to yourself, “DANG-IT!!…I knew I shouldn’t have asked that STUPID question…I should know better with all my professional, social training skills that I have acquired through repeated embarrassment due to asking such PERSONAL questions.” Once I am done ridiculing myself I realize that the voice on the other end is cracking and mumbling something in response to what I have perceived to be such an idiotic display of social graces. What I hear next is jaw dropping…the voice on the other end begins to share…even confess....to the very situation that the question was originally directed toward. By the end of the conversation it is clear that the person needs to continue to talk about what is going on and we set up some time to discuss the matter deeper. Both of us in agreement that we are thankful for one another we say good-bye and look forward to seeing each other face to face each week to ask the difficult questions….to ask the Lord to be in our midst as we open the doors of our souls to one another...moving toward a deeper relationship with each other and a more significant relationship with Him.
Who is asking you the difficult questions?
Eph 4:25
Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
NKJV
