Hello!: Is That You God?

By Adrian Hawkes

Our problem is that sometimes we cannot hear properly; and sometimes for all sorts of reasons we fail to understand. A bit like a child who develops communication and they grow and mature in communication skills. It is not immediate; and actually we continue to develop interpersonal communications for the whole of our lives. Many of us could enjoy the same experience (journey) in our communications with God.

"It's interesting that as we get older we cut out certain frequencies. Sometimes our ears are just not attuned, or sometimes it's because of distraction, like when I pull up in my car and start talking to my next door neighbour and sub-consciously disregard the regular bell-like pulse of my alarm that tells me the fact that I've left my lights on to my peril. Perhaps the alarm is ringing and this book will help you to hear it."-Dave Bilbrough, International worship leader and songwriter

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 22, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595866854

Adrian Hawkes

A native of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Adrian Hawkes’s first daytime job was in the fashion trade. His evening activity was leading a team of young people running youth events around the city and, ultimately, in the very centre of Birmingham. This team of four led more than a hundred young people. Every Sunday night at 9 p.m., their youth events brought hundreds of young people together. Moving on after many lucrative years in the rag trade, Adrian worked for six months in Port Talbot, Wales, helping to establish a church there. From that experience, Adrian believed he should train in theology and received his training at Capel College, Surrey, England. After training, Adrian was posted in the North East of England. He was there for five years, getting married a week into the job. Adrian was then posted to North London to take charge of two separate church communities. By this time, he was part of a small family community himself, having not only a wife but also two small children. Forty-seven years on, London is still his home. The church community he worked with grew to many hundreds. He then reached out, establishing independent sector schools and nurseries, housing, and work for the unemployed. At one stage, the church employed more than three hundred people. Adrian is on the board of several companies and involved in all sorts of activities, all for social good. He travels extensively, working and advising groups in Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Germany, Canada, and France. He is also on the trust of a community in the United States of America. Adrian has been invited to speak at the United Nations on the need to do something positive for refugees and displaced persons worldwide. Following a traumatic experience with one young person in particular, Adrian and his wife, Pauline, decided they needed to understand such youth and how to effectively help them. They signed up to a local authority training course. The training displayed the contemporary need for foster carers. It was a no-brainer as far as they were concerned. They fostered for over fifteen years, fostering emergency cases of over thirty young people over those years. I Was a Foster Carer tells of some of the stories they experienced at that time. Adrian has sometimes amalgamated stories in the book to make his point. However, please note that every story told, no matter how strange you think it is, actually and factually took place. I Was a Foster Carer asks, Could you be a foster carer?

Book preview

Contents

Foreword By: Dave Bilbrough

Preface

Introduction from the author

1 UNDERSTANDING Listening to Ghana

2 VERBALLY Driving My Car

3 THOUGHTFULLY Knowing That You Have Heard Wrong—When You Haven’t

4 UNPREDICTABLY Knowing That Others Have Heard Wrong—But God Is In On the Joke

5 VISUALLY Sitting On a Platform

6 WRITTEN Are You Listening To Me

7 FUTURISTICALLY Listening To God—Before I Ask He Has Answered

8 INCORRECTLY I Thought I Heard The Prophetic Correctly

9 CIRCUMSTANTIALLY The Circumstances Spoke To Me

10 NATURALLY Nature Speaks

11 KNOWINGLY Listening To God Speak Through Another Person (Words Of Knowledge And Wisdom)

12 UNKNOWINGLY In The Way

Hello!

Is that you God?

Copyright © 2007 by Adrian Hawkes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

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Lincoln, NE 68512

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims

any responsibility for them.

Photos Thoughtfully: Chapter 3

Visually. Chapter 5

Futuristically Chapter 7

Intelligently: Chapter 10

Knowingly: Chapter 11

All photos provided with permission by: www.zippysite.co.uk

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-42346-0 (pbk)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-86685-4 (ebk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-42346-9 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-86685-9 (ebk)

I thought it would be good to

dedicate this book to my grandchildren. They might like to see their name in print and I do appreciate them—so thanks for being great children, and learn to listen to God.

Sunny Day

Talitha Day

Blaze Day

Owen Mayer

Aidan Mayer

Miles Mayer

Harry Hawkes

Exodus 19:19

Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply for all to hear.

John 12:29

The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said that it thundered; others said, ‘An angel spoke to him.’

John 12:30

Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.’

Acts 22:7

I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

Acts 22:9

And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spoke to me.

… When one of my youngsters was just a toddler of around three years old, I was watching them play one day in our wash room. The washing machine was empty, switched off, but with the door open. The curiosity of a toddler made the little one go to the machine, examine the door, and pop their head into the machine. They then said HELLO! and because it was a drum, there was an echo, hello? The little one pulled her head out, not being aware of the fact that I was watching, I could see a look of incredulity on her face, and wondered what was going on in her head. I didn’t have long to wait as the toddler again put her head in the drum and said O hello God I didn’t know you were in there…

Foreword

By: Dave Bilbrough

Recently I read of a local council’s novel scheme that was introduced in an attempt to cut down petty crime in their local shopping precinct. A transmitter was installed which produced a shrill high-pitched note that was only audible to those in their teens and downward. Apparently certain frequencies become less recognisable to us as we get older.

To an individual of a certain age and beyond they would go about their daily business not being able to hear these frequencies, but to the teenagers that were targeted, the shrill incessant sound would be repulsive and enough to deter them from congregating in crime hotspots. It proved a great success, cutting down crime in the areas in which it was installed, but sadly, I guess, redirecting the youths to a shrill-free zone further down the road.

It’s interesting that as we get older we cut out certain frequencies. Sometimes our ears are just not attuned, or sometimes it’s because of distraction, like when I pull up in my car and start talking to my next door neighbour and sub-consciously disregard the regular bell-like pulse of my alarm that tells me the fact that I’ve left my lights on to my peril.

My American friend, with the intriguing name Wayne Drain, once shared with me this startling but simple truth—that God is so often speaking to us; but we are not listening. We need to learn to listen and maybe we need to learn to see more, like the spot the ball competition that ran every Saturday in a certain area of Dublin where the printer had inadvertently made the mistake of printing the photograph with the ball still

Reviews for Hello!

[mariasavva_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very interesting little book, and very well written. The author relates stories from his life documenting his very intimate relationship with God. There are also stories from the lives of others which affirm his message; the message being that we are all able to communicate with God if we try. Adrian Hawkes gives examples of when God has spoken to him directly and through others, in some very fascinating and inspirational stories. The first few chapters, where the author is describing events from his life where God has intervened, read very much like the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' series of books. I found that I didn't want to put it down. Adrian Hawkes uses this book to set out his theory on how God gets involved in our lives by speaking to us, either directly, through others, through circumstances, nature, etc.There were a few editorial issues, but on the whole the book was well constructed and sends out a very important message.