God Can Only Scream So Loud

It seems like lately that as I do my devotions at night, I am wondering why I do not have that burning flame inside of me like I used to when I went to church camp or attended a Nazarene Youth Congress. I sit there and ask myself,
"Do I need a better devotional book?"
"Do I need to do my devotions at a different time?"
"Can God hear me?"
Lately I have found out none of those questions are the right one to ask. Recently I walked through a prayer walk at the church that I work at and I was totally amazed. The first section was a video by Rob Bell (author of Velvet Elvis - to which I am currently reading) and you sit down and watch the video. Bell proceeds to talk to you about statistics and information about how our society today has to have noise, then in a way Bell turns off the TV and it comes up to a black screen with white sentences appearing each stating something about silence. To me this was the most powerful part of the labrynth and it was just the first section out of 5. If you want to know more, than you have to talk to Doug Samples or come to Lake O today, but it was then that I realized, nothing was wrong with the devotional book that I was reading. Nothing was wrong about what time I was doing my devotions. God can hear me loud and clear...my problem was I could not hear him. God was trying to talk to me through his word, he tries to talk to me through the many activities that happen throughout the day, but I have everything turned up that the noise drowns him out.
Rob Bell stated that we always have to have a radio or TV on a work, in our car, at home, etc. SUV and vans now have DVD players in them. Bell encourages us to turn everything off. Cell phones, radio, tv, computers, etc. to where we are in absolute silence. Nothing is to be heard. Then pray and spend time with God. Now I feel bad because the whole time I am yelling to God, "Are you here"...and he is yelling back "I never left" but because of the noise in between me and God, I never heard him. God can only scream so loud...it is I who has to turn the volume down and listen...listen for him....no more yelling God. I am here and I am yours.