Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Telephone (07/17/08)
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TITLE: Hotline to Heaven | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gillian Dobson
07/22/08 -
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“Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
These historic words, the first audibly clear words transmitted electronically from one place to another, uttered on the 10th March 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Thomas Watson, who was sitting in an adjoining room, ushered the world into a new era in communications. Notwithstanding the controversy between Bell and a rival inventor, Elisha Gray, over who was the first to invent the telephone, neither man could have had any conception of how the telephone would revolutionise worldwide communication, nor of the myriad uses it would come to have, ranging from simply a means of verbal communication to a transmitter and receiver of electronic messages and pictures via SMS, MMS, email and the Internet.
The transmission of sound via telephone lines and in recent years via radio waves and satellites, has enabled people around the world to instantly pass on information, to maintain and develop social relationships with friends and family members at a distance, to share good news and bad, to laugh together across the miles and to cry and comfort one another through the bad times. Business practices too have been transformed through the use of the telephone. A time and money saving tool, the telephone allows businessmen and women around the world to conduct group meetings, to make appointments, to discuss issues and complete deals. Many can now work from home, and those who still work from an office can also manage their private affairs from the office through the use of the telephone. There is no part of society today that does not use or benefit from the telephone and it is hard to imagine a world without this incredible communication tool.
Just as regular and efficient communication through the use of the telephone enables the maintenance and activation of social and business networks, so too, it is vital for the Christian to maintain and build his or her relationship with God through regular communication. Though many of us might wish for a physical, tangible “Hotline to Heaven”, the medium of communication God has given us is Prayer. Through prayer we are able to share our deepest feelings with God, to tell Him our good news and our bad, to ask for his advice and guidance and to receive wisdom and comfort from Him when needed. The more we communicate with God in prayer the more we get to know Him and His will for our lives. And just as a telephone conversation is a two-way event, with each party both speaking and listening, so too, prayer should consist of both speaking and listening, for it is as we listen that we are able to hear the still, small voice of God within us.
Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…” (Jn 10:27, RSV). Have you ever noticed how people who converse regularly with you on the phone do not need to identify themselves when they call you? The more often you speak with someone the better you are able to recognise who they are simply by hearing their voice. And so it is with God. Regular prayer enables one to recognise God’s voice more easily.
In the 132 years since its invention, the telephone has become an indispensable part of modern life and for the Christian, prayer too is an indispensable “spiritual tool.” Indeed, prayer is not merely an “optional extra”, but a command of Scripture: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil 4:6, RSV). Every aspect of our lives needs to be submitted to God in prayer, all our needs, wants, feelings and anxieties. We must bring to God all the details of our life and thank Him for all its challenges and blessings. And as we share our lives with God through prayer, so He transforms us, conforming us more and more to the image of His son. Surely, a Christian life without prayer is as unimaginable as modern life without the telephone.
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