Collect calls from God

It would be hard for me to over communicate the amount of weight that has been lifted off my shoulders. For the past month I have been agonizing over what to do. What does God want from me? What is God doing in my life? Where does God want me? Where can I be used for Gods glory best? These are the questions I have been wrestling with all month long. Every singe one feels big by it’s self but is complicated by the simple fact that how I answer effects so many of those I love around me. How I answer those questions effect the teens and families I work with, my close friends, my mentors here at op, and most importantly my wife and kids. The fact that my personal decisions effects the public ministry (and church) here has left me with a deep sense of conflict. In the end the question comes down to two things. Trust and providence.

Here is how good old Webster defines trust and providence.
Trust= to have reliance of faith in
Providence=divine care or guidance

At its very root and genesis my questions are not simply, “Where does God want me to be?” or “Where can I serve God best?” God answered those questions long ago. You can serve God best by serving her wherever you are. More simply put my question is, “Do I trust (have faith in) God’s providence (his divine care of me)?” Do I trust the call and the caller?

Growing up I had a crazy uncle. Not, “oh you big goof” crazy, but rubber room crazy. Occasionally he would get thrown in jail for writing bad checks or some stupid decision and call us to come bail him out. He always called collect. Early on we learned to not accept the call. We made a decision before he called that we would not accept his collect jail cell calls. No time was spent “in the moment” trying to decide wither to take his call or not. We did not trust the caller and acted accordingly.

Do you trust the caller? All of us have felt the tug of God’s spirit pulling on our heartstrings? We wipe away the call by burring it with questions. But we must decide now, before the moment comes, do we trust the caller? If you “choose this day who you will serve” then you know the answer to the question before it is ask. My answer is yes. Yes I will follow you, yes I trust you, and yes I believe you have a plan for my life. Yes I will push away from a perfectly good harbor to sail new waters.

Maybe God is not calling you to a new job, or a new town, or a new church. Maybe God is simply calling you to new understanding of work, a new heart for your town, or a new love for your church. What ever God is calling you towards my hope is that you say yes to the call. May you be blessed with collect calls from God this week, may your life be full and rich with a trust of God’s providence. May you live all the days of your life as a yes man to the creator God. May you accept the call.