Background Noise

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Written by Susan E. Hohman

"May we be so blessed to receive a personal wake-up call from our beloved Father. His voice is the only one powerful enough to penetrate the "

“Beep! Beep! Beep! This is your wake-up call. Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!”  Silence. Repeat. A rustling of covers, a smack of the snooze button, then ten quiet minutes. “Beep! Beep! Beep! It’s time to get up. It is now 6:30. Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!” Repeat. Repeat. Silence. Ten minutes later, music blares from the radio. Still, the body beneath the warm covers sleeps on.

“Ring-Ring, clang, honk!” A different alarm sounds, with louder volume, and still no desired response. The sleeper sleeps. Three varied alarms set to go off at precise intervals for effectiveness have been for naught. Music, talking, beeping, dinging—all kinds of noise—make up this teenager’s day. As he slumbers, classical music plays. What is one more sound in his noise-filled life? The alarms are simply more background noise.

This scenario on a recent morning at our house pricked my heart and consciousness with an important lesson. How often do we fill our lives with sounds—daily news events, busy schedules, socializing—until alarms strategically set to wake us up are blatantly disregarded?

That same piece of news, the 15-second sound-bite, reiterates clearly what the Scripture has promised: Earthquakes in diverse places. Tsunamis. Floods. The earth is groaning. “And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring. . .” (Luke 21:11, 26)

Still, we hit “snooze” and sleep on, warm in our cocoon of sympathy for our fellow man.

Our schedules are so jam-packed that days are never long enough. Work, school, physical fitness activities, entertainment, volunteering, and even church are necessary and worthwhile time-users. We rise early to fit it all in, and collapse, exhausted, in our beds at the end of the day . . . another day that proves way too short again. “No way did that one have 24 hours in it,” we think. “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”(Mark 13:20)

Another alarm goes off, but our exhaustion causes such lethargy we simply cannot respond.

Because of our busyness, there’s little time for peaceful respite. In place of sipping lemonade on the front porch with a dearly loved neighbor, we catch up dozens of “friends” on social networks, or via e-mail, or chats. It’s faster, more efficient, and far less invasive than a face-to-face visit. We text our concern, voice-mail our prayer requests, and sympathize with a friend in line at the mall. Multi-tasking is vital to survive in our out-of-touch, impersonal, constantly-in-touch society.

The new sound of a new alarm filters through our socially stimulated consciousness. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 1:33-34)

The noise is in the background, though. It is simply not enough to awaken us. “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14)

Finally, Mom walks in the room and shakes the teenager awake. A firm voice of authority, emphasizing the lateness of the hour and the consequences awaiting the unresponsive is enough to penetrate through the myriad sounds. At last, an alarm that is proven to work has opened the eyes and ears of the sleepy one.

There is no ignoring this sound. It is more than background noise. It’s a beloved voice, calling to its child. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” (Romans 13:11-12)

May we be so blessed to receive a personal wake-up call from our beloved Father. His voice is the only one powerful enough to penetrate the deafening sound of background noise.

About the Author:

Susan lives “way down south (central) in Dixon,” with her husband, Bob, pastor of First Pentecostal Church of Dixon and a new daughter work, New Harvest Apostolic in St. Robert.  Their two teenagers, Haleigh—a college student, and Collin—a homeschooled freshman help keep Susan’s chauffeuring skills up-to-date. Their two older kids are married. Heather and Corey Johnson live in Springfield and Bobby and Amber Hohman reside in the St. Louis area and have provided Susan cause for a new title: “Marmie” to grand-buddy, Garrett, and grand-dandy-daughter, Lilly-Ann!

Besides helping at Dixon First Pentecostal (musician, speaker, teacher, ladies’ leader, secretary, chief decorator), Susan writes feature articles for the local paper, The Dixon Pilot. In her non-spare “spare time,” she reigns as Queen of Cheap-a at all the local thrift stores, prepares and preserves non-gourmet food for family and friends, and treasures quiet moments lost in historical fiction.