Have you noticed these days how few people answer their telephones? They let them go directly to voicemail. I understand this. Many have been “burned” by answering the phone only to discover a telemarketer on the other end. It can sometimes be awkward to interrupt the caller, to clarify you don’t need what they’re selling, and then hang up. Of course, if you want to be rude, you can just hang up without an explanation.
We have new phones in my office that will translate a person’s voicemail and put it into a text. The system leaves the text in my email Inbox. It also leaves a recorded version of the voicemail. I have found it to be very important to listen to the call rather than depend on the translation into text. The other day, I read the text and was completely mystified as to what the caller was trying to say. The words were real words, but they didn’t make sense. When I listened to the message, then I understood what the person was actually saying.
Have you discovered that if you want to communicate with your grandchildren, it’s futile to call or even email. However, they will usually respond to a text. In fact, there are some people in our lives, if we want to talk with them by phone, we first send a text. The text is to determine when would be a good time to call.
Then, of course, texting is another interesting exercise. Do you have a smart phone that allows you to speak your message verbally, and then it converts your speech to text? Have you learned that it’s a good idea to read over the translation before you send it?
Do you have friends that leave text in code? TTYL means “Talk To You Later.” BFF, of course, is “Best Friends Forever.” LOL means “Laugh Out Loud,” unless my wife is texting a family member, in which case they know it means “Lots Of Love.”
Fortunately, we don’t need code to talk to God. He understands our voices, our written prayers, and even our thoughts. The important thing is to communicate. “Call to me,” he says, “and I will answer you” (Jeremiah 33:3 NIV). How great is that! The God of the universe will pay attention if you just communicate. Try it!
