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Wifi, first-second Peter, and Sermons, 24JAN

Strange to find the tablet picking up somebody’s WIFI at 430am…it’s not in this house that we are visiting, perhaps a neighbor…  At 430am, everyone is sleeping, except me, no phone battery to connect you to the outside world…no flashlight for a book, well thought I could play a game on the kindle…. Ok…. WIFI? Well that was a surprise! Now what could I look up?  Ok, been meaning to actually read the Bible more, good time for that…Peter I thought, been thinking of Peter a lot, his imperfections, my imperfections…

Except for that tough to digest first Peter 3rd chapter about wives and husbands, the advice is good…especially second Peter, the seven traits – Christian life goals…

What speaks to me is not just the advice, but the way it is framed…Peter says “my dear friends,”…that makes all the difference in advice giving… a term of familiarity and comfort with your audience, a term that shows your concern for them…you are telling them for their good, not for your personal gain. Your audience may actually listen and take the advice to heart…

I am a thinker with a good memory but I connect the emotional content of conversations, meetings to my memories…both at work and at home…I can tell you the tone of voice, the reactions of the people… this is attached to the dialogs in my head. That’s just the way I am.

Just like a Bible study or sermon given from the heart, when the audience is in the right frame of mind, private conversations have tremendous impact when you connect on a personal level.  I have benefitted from sermons and advice which have spoke to me…came from a trusted source…and had emotion-backed truth that made it stick. So much of me wants to gush in overflow about my personal spiritual experience, as if I had won the lottery… like you want to release a huge bombshell, but no, that would fall flat or worse cause bombs to be lobbed back towards me. I shared just a little info that I learned about Biblical writing history with a friend and got the response of: “she’s just a scientist, she doesn’t know God”, well it could of hurt my feelings but I just laughed it off, but that taught me that you have to frame your message – know your audience…   I have to have the armor of God for both those who think they know him and for those who don’t.

The Serenity prayer prays for wisdom to know the difference between thing you can change and things you can’t. I want to urge other certain someones I know to speak more personally, share their emotional attachments to the scripture lessons… because that works for me… but that is tough to do for some…seems easier and easier for me…but only one on one… if I spoke to a wide audience I think I would have to pick out someone in the crowd as if I were speaking to them personally, as a friend.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to give me words…the Serenity prayer for wisdom… And not my Blarney Stone gift of gab to blow it… to look for the small cracks in conversation, like a gentle breeze… Peter found his voice in between first and second Peter, I should too… I will get there, I will keep writing for now… But some day, I will be able to be bold and say “My dear friends”…