{"id":677,"date":"2014-11-10T21:26:44","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T05:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/?p=677"},"modified":"2014-11-11T09:11:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T17:11:35","slug":"the-black-phoebe-and-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/?p=677","title":{"rendered":"The Black Phoebe and God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Black_phoebe_sayornis_nigricans\"<\/a>A few Sundays ago I took a leisurely ride along the river on\u00a0\u00a0 the Old Broadbent Road. Near Catching Creek, I heard the pi-tsee, pi-tsee<\/em> of a bird. Slowing to a near stop, I said to myself, \u201cblack phoebe\u201d and looked around. There it was sitting on a bare branch, wagging its tail in typical flycatcher fashion. The late afternoon sun illuminated the black head and white body.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s surprising is that had you asked me what a black phoebe sounds like, I would have said, \u201cI have no idea!\u201d It is not a bird I grew up hearing. Only recently has it extended its range from northern California into Oregon. On walks around town and up to the cemetery, I have often watched them dart from branches to catch insects. Evidently, I have been listening to their call as well. But I have never tried to learn it.<\/p>\n

And yet when I heard the call I immediately knew it was a black phoebe. As I continued my ride along the Coquille River, I reflected on how I really have no idea what God\u2019s call sounds like either. To be honest, I ask God many questions and get no replies. I don\u2019t hear his voice often, but I listen.<\/p>\n

I have even annoyed people by objecting to the phrase \u201cpersonal relationship with God.\u201d Conversation with God seems essential to a personal relationship,\u00a0 but God and I don\u2019t converse. Yes, He has spoken volumes through His Word and in the revelation of His Son, but this seems more like a form letter sent to everyone than a conversation.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the call of the black phoebe, however, greatly encouraged me. God told me that I know more than I know I know (if that makes sense). True, I can\u2019t tell you what God\u2019s voice sounds like, but I know it when I hear it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few Sundays ago I took a leisurely ride along the river on\u00a0\u00a0 the Old Broadbent Road. Near Catching Creek, I heard the pi-tsee, pi-tsee of a bird. Slowing to a near stop, I said to myself, \u201cblack phoebe\u201d and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john317","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6y6Br-aV","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marksletters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-Teckla-Mark-Mill-Creek-Falls-June-2011-3123.jpg?fit=1000%2C287&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}