About the name

What is it about the Still Small Voice?

logoWhy did I choose this name and where does it come from?

The logo is a tree with Hebrew letters and a dove which symbolizes “Let his (or her) soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life”.

During our years of travel to nearly 100 nations of the world, I have enjoyed speaking with people from all walks of life. I have always found communication easy, in spite of language differences. This innate ability to communicate came with me at birth; and I am sure has something to do with the privilege of hearing the still small voice.

‘Tone deaf’ was the diagnosis given me by the language laboratory at the University of British Columbia. It was the summer of 1966 during Tamil studies, the language of South India. However I was also found to be a communicator and finished my language studies in spite of this disability and left Vancouver with a 700-word vocabulary in the Tamil tongue. In India my home was created from mud by hand and set in the jungles of a tea and coffee plantation in the Nilgiri Hills in Madras State. It came complete with an ‘Amma’ (Mother) to care for me. Mind you there was never a dull moment; visiting schools, tea plantations, delivering babies, bartering for food, buffalo milk, fording flooded rivers and working with eight different neglected aboriginal tribes as a nursing assistant to a famous Hindu doctor, Dr. Narasinham. Being challenged to communicate in this ‘other’ world also helped to ‘open my eyes’

The still small voice gives you wisdom and insight from above.

In a certain way it is like ‘tuning in’ to another world. An endearing characteristic of hearing the still small voice is the gut level feeling of having received truth, insight or light, a little piece to this puzzle of life. The ONE thing I find common to all people is their ability to hear the still small voice.

Over 38 years we have made friends with people from all over the earth. Here are some examples of how they ‘heard’ the still small voice.

Haim, our local corner-grocer in the German Colony in Jerusalem had been a child prisoner of WWII taken by the Russians. He survived as a cook’s helper in the Russian army. He was able to escape, and became a very young ‘partisan’. He fought the Nazis and lived in the forests of Russia and Poland during WWII. He walked on foot to Israel, as a boy of 14 and, has heard the still small voice many times.

Shlomi, an Iraqi Jew told how he was wakened up at night and told to run for his life. He left without shoes on his feet and began to find his way to Israel. We have heard amazing tales of Jews who fled Arab lands in 1947 and 48, so often I heard one or another say, “a voice told me to flee.”

Hamadah, a Muslim Egyptian judge and artist, was fascinated by the scriptural passage of Isaiah 53. He sought to know whom the prophet had described! He heard the still small voice and was able to do exploits under brutal SS oppression during the heavy-handed military rule of Nasser in the 1950’s and 60’s. Nasser funded his military machine by robbing wealthy Egyptian landowners and nationalizing their lands.

We had the privilege of creating the film Gates of Brass in the mid-1980’s. We caught on film the stories of Russians, Jews and Christians hounded and persecuted by the Soviet regime. Many relied on the still small voice to dodge their tormentors and survive.

Dr. Wong a Chinese professor, whom we met in Shanghai in 1979 had been horribly persecuted by the children of Mao’s cultural revolution. Because he was a Christian he was forced to live for years standing in a toilet hole. He was well acquainted with the still small voice. Knowing he was not alone and forgotten saved his mental state and his life.

Our son David, when a young soldier was told by the “still small voice” to “keep your helmet on”, seconds later a huge rock was thrown down on his head from 3 stories above. He was thrown to the ground, laughing with relief through the shock.
Other soldiers tell how obeying the still small voice saved their lives on the battlefield.

Achmed, an 80-year-old Palestinian has told us long tales of how his life has been spared through every one of Israel’s wars, while living on the “other side”. The miracle of his life is that he has no bitterness and remains in tune with the still small voice.

My Granddaddy, my childhood hero, told me how he heard the still small voice as a 16 year old telling him to fled the beatings of his inordinately angry heavy-handed father.

My Great Grandmother, a pioneer heard the still small voice instruct her how to perform a tracheotomy on her only son who was dying of diphtheria. He survived.

Jay and I as parents encourage our boys who are now men, to listen and obey the still small voice. Our little grandchildren are the most open of all and daily we try to encourage them in our love and the love of God.

The first time we read those words, “the still small voice” is in scripture. It is such a gentle way of describing the voice of God in search of a listening and obedient heart.

and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. (a delicate whispering voice.) I Kings 19:12

The story is told of the fiery prophet Elijah. He had just won a great victory on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal, a god of fertility and destruction. Elijah won the contest, and prayed for a three-year drought to end. Confronted by the famous vixen Jezebel this great man of faith lost his courage and fled to a cave in the desert. A discouraged Elijah was alone and frightened when he heard the still small voice.
Elijah’s life was forever changed after his encounter with the still small voice. Elijah then knew what direction he was to take and the consequences that would follow. What an example for all mankind. Seek for an open ear, a humble heart and a willing spirit. Hearing the still small voice, you will make a difference!