You Know… I Was Thinking…

Coming up with an idea is usually pretty easy for me. I learned it from my dad who is known for saying “You Know…I was thinking…” and then moving forward with his plan.

So this week “I was thinking”, I should investigate less expensive cell phone wireless plans. Now… I didn’t say this was a brilliant idea. I just said it was an idea. I had heard about a new wireless carrier from Facebook and decided to investigate. I ordered their SIM card, which came in yesterday, and began the process of switching my cellular service… on my phone only… my wife wasn’t really keen on my new idea.

Sim card installed, I went to their website www.dumbidea.com/activate And received the message “404 page not found”. So then I went to their support page, www.dumbidea.com/support.  Again, I received a message “404 page not found”. Not to be deterred, I opened their chat page. After chatting with the individual for about an hour, they told me to email care@www.dumbidea.com. After I explained my problem to them via email, I received a response back saying they would get in touch with me in the next 24 to 48 hours. Finally coming to my senses… I emailed them back and told him to cancel my subscription. I was going to stick with my original wireless service. No reply back… No sorry to see you go… No sorry you’re having trouble… Just silence.  Total time wasted… About 4 hours.

Finally, I asked God, “What do you want me to know about this situation?”

 He gave me an idea… which was actually a good one and should’ve been my first one… I contacted my original cellular service to discuss my options to reduce my cell phone bill.  After about 15 minutes of chatting with them, they were able to reduce my bill by about 40%, bringing my monthly bill down to the same amount I was going to pay with the other carrier.

I was reminded in a message I heard recently about King David’s decision-making process. Every time he said in scripture, “I will inquire of the Lord“, David was successful in his endeavors. Every time Dave was “thinking to himself” in scripture, it ended up in disaster. sort of like me using Facebook to decide on a wireless carrier.

God is always with us each and every moment of each and every day. Not only is he willing, but he wants us to let him talk to us about every situation we face.  Just asking him, “what do you want me to know about this situation?” can save us so much time and heartache. Couple that question with “what do you want me to do?” and then doing what he tells us to do, is a perfect definition of obedience. Obedience is not being handed a list of rules of dues and don’ts and trying to “obey” in our own strength… kinda like Dave thinking to himself. Obedience is simply, “listening and responding to God’s voice”.

Here’s a couple of verses to consider…

Isaiah 30:21.

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

Jeremiah 7:23

This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’

You know… I was thinking… just now…  it probably would’ve been a good idea for me to read these two verses before I went to all the work to swap SIM cards. I should have listened for God‘s voice telling me what he wanted me to know and what he wanted me to do. Now… that, right there is a good idea!