Noise

I love car and motorcycle races, any type, anywhere, and probably anytime.  I love the sound of engines, especially ones tuned to maximize torque, horsepower, and efficiency.  When you combine great engines, competition, and racing, you get a fantastic noise!    
 
I am willing to admit that it is hard to hear anything else at the races.  At the F1 race in Monaco, you could not watch without protecting your ears.  Even if you were blocks away, the noise was, while wonderful, loud and overwhelming.  Stock cars, dirt track, and short-track racing are very similar.  The noise, the smells, the excitement is overwhelming.  You do not hear much else!
 
I find life, with its chaos, turmoil, and storms, is far more like racing than anyone imagines.  Life is extremely competitive.  It starts with how one naturally competes in the effort to reach ideals, aspirations, and dreams.  Life seems like a race.  There is a start, and as things progress everything seems to get faster and increasingly out of control.  In the end, we are not sure how we win but there is a finish line.  Life is consuming; in full swing everything else but living seems to be push to the side.  We cannot hear, see, or do anything else!
 
I always thought I could race.  Having been to a few races, I no longer have that confidence.  It is too fast, too close, and far too precise for my abilities!  I would be lost!  I doubt I would hear my spotter’s voice, much less talk to my crew chief.  The idea of doing this in the middle of the race is nearly impossible to imagine.
 
Life isn’t that different.  It is hard to hear God’s voice, even when I take the time to listen.  Yet the Voice is here.  “God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: ‘Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.  I've called your name.  You're mine.’”  (Isaiah 43.1)  Don’t let the noise drown out the most important message you will ever hear.