Yesterday afternoon, I called and asked Ken if he could pick up some decaf coffee. We were having company over that night, and I wanted to make sure we had some on hand.

He said, “Sure. Is there any particular kind you want?”

I said, “Well, I like hazelnut, but you can get whatever you like.”

So when he walked in with dishwasher detergent, I wasn’t as pleased as he was expecting me to be. He said, “What? Aren’t you glad that I remembered?”

Now, in his (sort of) defense, when you use his cell phone, it sounds like the other person is standing in 70 mph wind gusts. He left it out in the rain, and apparently this is what happens to a rained upon phone. But my sympathy for this problem expired on week two after the rain. And many more weeks have passed since then.

So, we didn’t have decaf coffee last night. But we did have lots of laughter, and a choice of two kinds of detergent with which to wash our dishes.

Now, I can’t be too hard on Ken, because sometimes my ears are like his phone. I pick up my Bible or go to church, but I don’t hear God clearly because my sinful heart garbles the message. And then, I come to the Lord with my ‘box of detergent’, and he’s less pleased than I was expecting.

If I want to hear clearly–either God or another person–I have to get rid of whatever is garbling the message. Sometimes it’s a phone. Usually it’s the sin in my heart.