Call Me Maybe

Then I called upon the name of the Lord…Psalm 116:4

How many of you remember the day when finding an answer meant looking something up in a book?  Yes, I know that sentence probably made me sound old but the truth is, I do remember life before technology.  The other day Shannon was demonstrating to her Dad the feature on her iPod that allows her to ask a question directly into the device and “Siri” responds almost immediately with an answer.  I thought I would be smart and give Siri a question that would make her think, but before I tell you the question, I have a story that goes with it.

I had a first grader a few years ago that asked me if Jesus had a last name.  I will be honest and admit that I didn’t know the answer so that’s exactly what I told him.  I did promise to do my homework and come back the next day with the answer.  As you might imagine, I did have one smarty-pants who claimed to know the answer and responded “Christ” is his last name and soon another spoke up and corrected his smart friend and said the answer was “Of Nazareth”.  I told all three boys to stay tuned!  As promised, I did my homework and discovered that in the time of Jesus your last name was tied to your genealogy so a man was called (first name) Bar-(father’s first name) so that made his name, Jesus Bar-Joseph.  After reporting the answer, they all had a great time re-naming themselves and then we were on to the next thing.

When Shannon wanted a question for the Siri demonstration I suggested she ask what Jesus’ last name was.  She asked and waited for a moment and Siri answered, “Unable to answer, Jesus is not in your contacts.” We laughed like crazy! It did make me stop and think a bit though. Is Jesus in my contacts?  How often do I get in touch with Him? I’m not saying your response to this post should be to enter J-E-S-U-S into your cell phone contact list but Siri’s reply did give me something to ponder. 

I don’t know, maybe I will add His name to my contacts, and then when I’m scrolling through I’ll see it and be reminded to call upon His Holy Name.  Maybe it will remind me how much I want Him to recognize the sound of my voice.  Maybe it will remind me to text Him a quick thank you for my blessings.  We have cars that help us back up and park, we have phones that wake us up; we have buzzers that tell us when to pull out the food or switch the load of laundry so maybe it’s not such a crazy idea to put Jesus in our contacts to remind us to call on Him.  One thing I know for sure, I desperately need Him to be my main contact for all things great, scary, worrisome, difficult and joyful so I’d better make sure He’s who I contact first.  I think He should be a "call me always" instead of a "call me maybe!"

A Seed To Plant: What kind of reminders can you give yourself to stay in touch with God through prayers of petition, thanks and praise?

Blessings on your day!