Follow God's call on your life

As I write this blog entry, I’m soaring above the earth somewhere between the US and China on a Cathay Pacific airliner. I take advantage of time in the air to read and write. When most everyone else is sleeping and the lights in the cabin are off, I often find this a good time to pray and reflect on what God is doing in my life.

Tonight I’ve asked God why. God, why have You entrusted me with a ministry that now reaches the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich? God, why have you called me to be involved in the international business world? God, why me?

Do you ever ask God why? I guess most of us do for different reasons and at different times of our lives. It’s OK. He doesn’t mind. A good father wants his children to ask him questions. He doesn’t want us turning to anyone else for answers.

I still don’t know why, but I’m humbled and thankful. I’m the least deserving. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have my faults just like everyone else. After all, I’m only a man. It’s easier for me to see why God called my beautiful bride to the ministry. Nobody is sweeter, and she’s such a godly woman. Oh, she isn’t perfect either, but she has purity about her that only God could have put there.

I may never know why God called me, but I’ve never been more certain of His call on my life. From preaching to the unreached in places like the Philippines to providing opportunities for people in Dothan to realize their calling to shining the light of Jesus in international business meetings, I’ve no doubts He has called me to do those things and more.

Are you sure of His call on your life? If so, keep going forward in His might and strength. If not, ask Him. Jesus says in Matthew 7: 7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

One thing you can be sure of, wherever God has you at this moment, He wants you to tell those around you about His wonderful Son. You may not be where you want to be, but you are where God wants you.

God didn’t call us to a life of comfort. He will take us out of our comfort zone. One reason He does that is so we have no choice but to depend on Him and not in our own abilities. I’m learning more and more to trust in Him and not in my abilities. They aren’t mine anyway. If there is anything good in me, and if I have any talents, my Father in Heaven gave them to me.

When I first reached out to a homeless person, that was a moment of God taking me completely out of my comfort zone. I had never been exposed to the homeless until then. When God called me to preach in foreign lands where to people that speak different languages and cultures much different than America, He pulled me out of my comfort zone once again. When God called me to leave the newspaper industry after 22 years, that was another change in my comfort zone.

When he called me to enter the world of international industrial recruitment, that was another huge change where I felt totally uncomfortable. What does a newspaper editor/ministry pastor know about international business? Nothing.

When I told Martha I had no clue what I was doing back in January, she said, “Good, because God does.”

So you see, God’s calling has nothing to do with comfort or our abilities. It has everything to do with God and our willingness to trust and obey Him. It’s not easy.

People may look at traveling the world as glamorous. Let me tell you, it’s not. Have you ever lived out of a suitcase for nearly three months while traveling by jet, boat, train and car? It’s not easy, and far from glamorous.

It’s not always fun, either. I’m not a fan of being away from my wife and family. I miss my LIA and Harvest families. But, it’s worth it. To see one soul saved is worth any price.

If Jesus wanted to take the easy way out and only think about Himself and His comfort, He never would have come to earth, much less die such a horrible death on the cross. No, Jesus thought we were worth it all. We must think the same about Jesus. He is worth it all, and reaching one more lost soul no matter the cost is worth it all.