You Have A Call

No matter where you go, you see people talking on cell phones -- sometimes in some most unusual places.

Illus: One man was leaving Minnesota for Colorado. He decided to make a stop at one of those rest areas on the side of the road. He said, “I went in the washroom. The first stall was taken so I went into the second stall. I just sat down when I hear a voice from the next stall...

• "Hi there, how is it going?"

• “I am not the type to strike up conversations with strangers in washrooms on the side of the road. I didn't know what to say so finally I said, ‘Not bad.’”

• “Then the voice says, ‘So, what are you doing?’"

• “I am starting to find that a bit weird, but I say, ‘Well, I'm going back to Colorado...’"

• “I knew I was in trouble when I heard this person say, ‘Look I'll call you back. Every time I ask you a question, this idiot in the next stall keeps answering me.’"

One of the problems with cell phones is that you can be in the midst of a conversation and the battery will get low and cut you off.

Illus: One man said that one of his friends works in the customer service call center of a national pager company. There, he deals with the usual complaints

• One day he got a call from this red-neck name Bubba, who repeatedly complained that he keeps being paged by "Lucille."

• He was instructed that he would have to call her and tell her to stop paging him.

• "She don't never leave no number, so I can't call her back," he said.

• After three such calls, someone thought to ask how he knew it was Lucille if she didn't leave a number.

• "She leaves her name on my phone, " was the reply.

The service rep began to suspect something, he said, "How does she spell Lucille?"

• Bubba said, she spells it, "L-O-W C-E-L-L"

Another technical problem solved.

This is certainly the age of communication. Sometimes we get calls we prefer to ignore. We know they are not important so we ignore them. But listen, there are calls we get and we know they are important and we know we must take them seriously.

For example:

• If we get a call from a good friend, we take that call seriously.

• If we get a call from a brother or sister, we take that call seriously.

• If we get a call from our parents or grandparents, we take that call seriously.

But listen, the most important calls we get are FROM GOD THE FATHER, and a lot of folks do not take them seriously.

Let me show you, from the Word of God, two important calls He sends to mankind. We see . . .

I. GOD’S CALL TO SAINTS

If we are smart, we will not ignore His call. For example, AS THE SAINTS OF GOD HE CALLS US TO LIVE A LIFE OF HOLINESS.

God wants to bless and use all His children, but there are some He cannot bless or use!

WHY CAN’T HE BLESS SOME OF HIS CHILDREN?

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger and his wife were eating at a nice restaurant with a preacher and his wife. She began to drink her tea when she noticed the glass did not appear to be clean. She examined it closely and found out it was not clean. Once she noticed it was not clean, she would not drink from that glass. Now listen, I do not blame her, who wants to drink from a dirty glass?

Sometimes you can not help but wonder about what some of these people do to wash their dishes.

Illus: A priest was asked to dinner by one of his parishioners who lived out in the country. When he sat down at the table, he noticed that the dishes were the dirtiest that he had ever seen in his life. He hated to say anything, but he finally said:

• "Were these dishes ever washed?" he asked his hostess, running his fingers over the grit and grime.

• She replied, “Of course they were cleaned Father. They're as clean as soap and water could get them.”

• He felt a bit apprehensive, but blessed the food anyway and they all started eating. The meal was delicious and he paid his compliments in spite of the dirty dishes.

• When dinner was over, the hostess said it was time to get the dishes washed. She took the dishes outside and called for her two dogs - "Here Soap! Here Water!"

None of us would want to eat from dirty dishes. Listen, every Saint of God is a vessel that God wants to bless and use. If we do not want to eat from a dirty dish, why do some think the holy God of heaven would want to use a dirty vessel?