Loud & Proud ...

We are a loud family.  When we show up people know it.  There is no hiding us.  A day in the life of us may include yelling "BobGoblin!" (from Nickelodeon's Wallykazam) with the 4year old and "GOOOOOAAAAALLLL!" during the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer games with the almost 20year old.  I've even been trying to teach my teenage son, Evan, with special needs to whisper.  It comes out as this hilarious, raspy, but still loud voice.  Man, I love his effort.  And that same man/boy does love to hear the sound of his Crocs shoes slapping an echo across tile floors like tap shoes.  The sound brings him such joy.

Don't get me wrong.  I love quiet.  I need the quiet.  I crave quiet.  I am a huge proponent of taking some time away from the noise and recharging, even if it is only a couple of hours.  Hearing what God has to say in the silence can be most beneficial.  My brother recently did it at a monastery.  You can read about it on his blog, NothingHarsh.com.  But I've come to accept that it's just not gonna happen most of the time for us.  We are mostly loud.

We are loud where ever we go, even in church.  Even in the back rows we are a distraction.   Throughout history church has evolved to become this super, quiet, could-hear-a-pin-drop, kind of place.  Soooo, in walks us.  You can picture the entire impeccably dressed sanctuary turning their heads from their place of somber prayer to annoyed, interrupted looks as we find our place in the back wooden pews.  Our every movement echoing throughout the high ceilings of the stained glass decorated place of worship.  Okay, where we go to church is way more relaxed than that.  But that is how it can feel when you have a special needs teenager that isn't cooperating through an hour-long sermon.  Not to mention the bathroom breaks, the medical checks and that's a good week.  Who knows what the pastor was actually preaching about.  We are lucky to get through a Sunday with minimal distractions to the rest of the people attending so they will know what is in the sermon content.

The thing I've been wondering about is how loud and distracting will it be in Heaven?  No one who's actually been to Heaven is able to report back on the the decibel level.  So I am going to compare what is in the Bible to my Jimmy Buffet concert experience.  I love a good concert.  But when I go to a concert I go to hear the person who's name is on the ticket.  At a Jimmy Buffet concert apparently you go to hear thousands of Parrotheads singing along with Jimmy.  Yes, Jimmy has the microphone.  But he may as well be whispering from his bus backstage.  Let's just say, I was not a happy Parrothead.  But I digress ... Heaven.  In Revelation 5:11-13 it says there were "angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand".  I know at the Jimmy Buffet concert I could not hear myself think and there were probably a few thousand less than "ten thousand times ten thousand".  So I think it's fair to say that Heaven will be LOUD!!!!!!  

Finally a church service where we will not be a distraction!!  

I cannot wait for the day where our God is the true focus of worship. Where we don't run the risk of being called out for too many bathroom runs, Croc slapping, hearing the sound of our own voice echo in the sanctuary, and glucose lancet snapping.  These will be such minor sounds in the realm where angels praise our God.  

Bible Verse I'm Loving Today:
Psalm 95:1