A soccer player falls in the penalty box after being tackled. She gets back up, walks to the referee who is pointing to the penalty spot, and explains that she just dove to avoid the tackle and there should not be any foul called on the play.

After signing his scorecard, a golfer notices an error, reports it to the officials and gets automatically disqualified after winning the tournament.

Even though her first serve was called inbound, a tennis player, knowing that her ball was out, overrules the line judge’s call and gets ready to second serve.

A baseball centerfielder admits that he caught the ball just after it touched the ground and tells the umpire that the batter should now be on first base, not out.

We’ve seen the commercial more than once—the one where the guy walks around with his cell phone, pausing every couple of steps to ask the question “Can you hear me now? Good.” We are reminded that some companies go to a lot of trouble to keep their communication lines open. We have all experienced areas where cell phone communication breaks down, when we can’t hear at all.

Stop for a moment and think about the effort God has made to communicate His unending love for us. His message is clear. He loves us and wants us to respond by living our lives in the truth—a truth that honors our Creator and loves and serves our fellow man. The problem is that we don’t listen. We are too wrapped up in ourselves to notice His call.