On a typical day in my office, I can hear sirens from emergency vehicles, trucks as they shift gears to start or stop for the traffic lights, cars blowing their horns, and motorcycles with thunderous exhaust pipes. I can hear them but I cannot see them unless I get up from my desk and go to the window. The only time I do that is when I hear a number of sirens or someone braking so hard that their tires are locked up and it sounds as if they have hit something. I have become accustomed to the sounds of the busy street in front of our office and most of the time I am tuned out to those sounds and do not even hear them.

On the other hand, when I was a boy at my grandparents’ house, we would run out to the road just to see a car go by. There was much less traffic in those days and they lived on a secondary road. Because of that there might not be one car come across that road in a day and it was a big deal to see it drive by.

It seems that we humans get numb to things if they are commonplace in our lives whether they are good or bad. Just like tuning out the sounds of the street because the traffic is constantly there, when something happens over and over we seem to not notice it any longer.

This could be a blessing, but what happens when we become numb to the reoccurring things in our life? What happens when we no longer notice the bad things that are slowly eating away at our relationships with family and friends, or even our health? Could there be good things in our life that have become so commonplace that we take them for granted? Do we have a chance of losing those good things if they are left unattended? Is it time we got up and looked out the window of our life to see what is really going on? Is there a possibility that it might be too late if we wait for the sirens and sliding tires before we notice?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington C.H.