Beverly Joy Roberts

  Selective hearing  is a real thing.   When my children were young, they all had trouble with their hearing.  It wasn’t a medical/physical thing.  Their selective hearing was by choice.   They could hear fine if I said, “Time for chocolate cake.”  "Who wants to go outside and play?" "Let's finger-paint with chocolate pudding!"  But when I said, “Time to share that toy.”  "It's bedtime."  "Don't touch that."  Suddenly, no one could hear a thing.  It was like I was speaking a foreign language. When my eldest child was almost 3-years-old, he took off on his little bike peddling like the wicked witch of the west  character  from the movie The Wizard of Oz.  (I can actually hear the music that played while she peddled her bike when I remember this incident.)   I started out by calling to him in a sweet tone, "That's far enough.  Come back." Then my volume increased and my concern was evident with the not-so-sweet tone of my

"I never saw that coming."     I've blurted that phrase out many times in my life when something took me by surprise.  Like on the occasions I've tripped over things unexpectedly, when I've been surprised by the arrival of a loved one, or when someone shows an  expression of appreciation that you didn't see coming.     I've also experienced times in my life when someone has acted or said unkind words to me and in my pain I'd say, “Wow!  I never saw that coming.”    The one chapter book of Jude is packed with many spiritual truths that are applicable to our lives today and one of these is a warning about those "I never saw that coming" life moments.   In Jude 1:12-13, there are warnings of false teachers who snuck into the church and carried with them dangerous teachings that over time would cause problems.     These are  spots in your love feasts , while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water,