Calling
Margaret says alot about "calling"... to much info or great quotes to interact with. So on this post interact with some of her statements.
Agree? Disagree? Need to clarify? Your call?
Agree? Disagree? Need to clarify? Your call?
posted by Randy | 10:47 AM
9 Comments:
Jessica--Wow! What an incredible realization. Yes...the now. Fully-alive. Fully-present.
I absolutely loved the line "calling isn't so much about us as it is about him. Rather than focusing on our own earthly weaknesses and failures, we are caught up in the hope of the One who is creating something new." Like most people, calling for me has been totally focused on me. What I'm good at, what I like, what I think I can handle. It hasn't been what he has for me, what he can do for me, how he made me perfectly to do what he wants. I know that what I'm good at and what I like play into how he made me perfectly to do what he wants but I haven't been able to take the focus off of me. And that's mainly because I haven't tried. Those two sentences really spoke to me and really made me look at my definition of calling again. I needed to.
I absolutely agree with Sara on this. Like a lot of people, I have been caught in the trap of focusing on my own strengths and weaknesses/likes and dislikes. I have only recently begun to realize that these dispositions are only a starting point as to what God can do with my life. It's all too easy to focus on ourselves when taking the sort of approach Sara described.
It's rather easy to understand when you think about it: if we think of our own inherent abilities as the summation of what God can do with us, we haven't just limited ourselves - we have limited God as well.
I also have to weigh in on the issue of how time wasters keep us from acheiving God's will in our lives. The odler I get, the more I realize just how much junk we spend time on - and I do mean junk.
Margaret Feinberg wrote about TV watching, internet surfing, and other trivial things as they related to this. She also encouraged us to take an inventory of how we spend our time. I've done this before, and was utterly appalled at the sheer amount of time wasted in a week. Not that I have "arrived" at being a great time manager (I still waste a lot of time in the course of a week), but I'm amazed at how much more reading/studying I can do and how much more quality time I can spend with my family when I don't watch mindless TV programs, play video pinball, or spend time reading car magazines. (We all have our weaknesses.) I would encourage everyone who reads this to take a periodic time inventory - it will do you worlds of good.
I love the story about Ken Frantz and his call to build bridges. The way you ended that story saying, "Ken Frantz received a life-changing calling, and his story serves as a reminder that God can use anything and anyone at any time to accomplish his purposes." It really reminded me that God can use anyone even the people you might not think would be right for the job. God can use anyone to accomplish His purposes. That is amazing.
I definately agree with Jessica. The whole "destiny is a journey thing..." really hit home. It somehow always seems as if destiny is something that is waiting on me out there somewhere, but to realize that it is here right now. that was huge.
So have any of you had a moment when you feel like you received a calling from God--the kind that some pastors describe--that divine moment?
To answer your question, Margaret, yes I have had that "calling" experience. In the summer of 2001, I went with our youth group on a missions trip to El Salvador. On one of the last nights we were there, our group was spending some time praying together with the local Christian leaders who had helped us on the trip. During that prayer time, I felt God speak in my heart clearer than He ever has. And He said 7 simple words: "You are going to be a missionary." It scared me at first. Me, a missionary living overseas? It actually scared me for about a week. And then, I began thinking about it more, and I realized that I have such a huge love for other cultures and an excitement for people from outside America. I began to see that THIS is what I was created for! I truly believe that I'm called to help people from other cultures know Christ.
Nathan--I love your story...that's awesome!
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