The Sound of the Shofar

I admit that I can sometimes be suggestible. Yea verily I say unto you, I am often the online marketer’s dream.

Mother used to say with a sigh, “Barbara, your problem is you keep trusting the wrong people.”

My response was, “No, Mother, I try to trust everyone. I try to give the benefit of the doubt. I try to do my research, but in the end, isn’t it better to be trusting in the goodness of people rather than living the life of a constantly sad, distrustful cynic?”

It’s not that I am stupid, although I know I can be gullible, but I do believe in the supernatural element, even though it doesn’t show itself that often. Rather than believe everything I hear, I like to allow that some truth may exist within the extraordinary claims, and I try to keep an open mind in case viable evidence presents itself. This applies not only to marketing ploys, but also to alternative theories of causality, religion, faith, mythology, and the reality that not all conspiracy theories are simply huvnah.

I was raised in a mainline church and grew up devouring the science fiction of Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, and other masters of the genre, which says that I like to play with theories. I am no Biblical scholar, merely a Biblical dabbler. I have also dabbled in multiple faith-based theories from Buddhism to Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Messianic Judaism. My bookshelves brim with books and articles written by Biblical theorists, scholars, debunkers, and researchers. Yes, yes, yes, I’ve spent much more time reading books ABOUT the Bible than I have spent reading the Bible itself. So, reading or hearing of the horn of Gabriel is an exciting idea for me, something scientifically neither proven nor disproven, but believed by countless generations preceding me.

One day, a few years ago, I had driven the 30 minutes to our nearest Lowe’s store. It was one of those afternoons with what could be described as having a Biblical sky. Despite the cloud cover, there was some otherworldly diffusion of light going on and I couldn’t tell if the sky was about to open up in a hail storm or if blue skies were about to break through. There was an electrical tension in the air as I unfolded my legs and exited the car in the large open parking lot.

I have a habit of collecting myself by the car before going inside, making sure I have my shopping list (half the time I have carefully crafted it and left it sitting at home on the counter), and a means of paying.

I was in that state, standing by my car when I heard from a distance the sound of the shofar, Gabriel’s horn. I was startled and couldn’t tell where it was coming from!

“Did I imagine that?” I might have asked myself aloud.

I heard it again! It seemed to be coming from somewhere behind me, so I turned to look. I scanned the parking lot. I scanned the clouds and saw nothing. No matter what direction I faced, it seemed to be coming from behind me somewhere in the distance. I began to get really spooked like maybe the Rapture (of which I knew precious little) was coming. By all standards I’d heard, I knew I wasn’t right with the Lord, but hoped he’d go easy on me, anyway.

The fourth or fifth time I heard it, it seemed much closer and in confused disbelief I sort of fell backward against my car door, where I felt my brand-new I-phone in my back pocket. I pulled it out to make sure I hadn’t cracked it.

The horn sounded again… in my hand. I had set the ringtone on “Sherwood Forest,” the sound of a hunting horn. Someone other than God was trying to call me.

Hmmmm…. Okay, so I have left my ringer on that setting ever since. Yes, I was almost ready to jump the gun on that day. But, I thought, “You know, it’s not a bad idea to keep that reminder on hand, or in hand.”