Outdoor barbeques and Texas summers go hand in hand. This one Texas summer was no different. I was a young boy, probably in my early teens, when we had the “swing chair incident.” I remember it so clearly. We were over at a friend’s house, and we were having lunch outside—barbeque, cole slaw, corn on the cob and some cold iced tea.
My buddy, Chris, and I had just got our lunch plates, and we were looking for a place to sit down. Glancing around, we noticed that the swing chair was empty. The wooden chair was suspended by two chains that held it to a branch about 25 feet in the air. It could easily seat three people.
As we sat down and started to eat, I looked up at the branch and then back down at Chris, and said, “Wouldn’t it be weird if this thing broke right now?” He laughed. I laughed.
WAM! It broke, and we tumbled to the ground with food all over our laps.
Neither of us moved. We just stared at each other, our minds were trying to sort through what just happened. Had I not said anything, we would have just laughed it off, but the swing chair prophecy had come true within seconds.
I can’t say I was walking with God when this happened. I had been to church a few times. I had probably even prayed a few times. But, as for a devote believer, no, I wasn’t there yet.
So, where did that thought come from? Was it God? Was it the devil? Or, just a very odd coincidence?
I believe that it was God speaking to me at an early age. At that time, I didn’t have any clue what I was doing, or that God would even speak to me. It was just a thought. But today, I understand that this is how God speaks to us most of the time–through our thoughts. The challenge is learning to discern which thoughts come from him.
When I have a God thought, it doesn’t sound any different than my own thoughts. It’s my voice, my language, my improper grammar, my tone and even my emotion—which makes it really hard to discern at times. Had I known how to discern his voice back then, I might not have had to bathe myself in potato salad.
