Monday, January 14, 2013

What if He says yes?


February 17, 2010 -- Lira, Uganda -- Journal entry

I don't think God gives us a calling we don't first ask for.  Perhaps the level of our own surrender determines our calling.



 At the 2008 Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church spoke on Mother Teresa and her relentless pursuit of God.  He referred to her commitment to do the Lord's bidding as "carte blanche yieldedness".  To refuse Him nothing.  The Lord placed a divine calling on her life and she answered His bidding without delay.  And the world was introduced to an unknown Albanian schoolteacher.

She refused Him nothing.

I wonder how many more Mother Teresa's should be on mission for Christ...fighting against injustice and bringing hope to the nations...but are too preoccupied...scared...or comfortable to act.

I don't want to miss His bidding.  At the end of my life, I want to look back and have been nothing...if not completely surrendered to His ways. 

At least that's what I'm convinced...on idle Tuesdays...

But...when the callings come (at least the sizable, i'm-going-to-interrupt-your-life type callings), I begin to back pedal.

Like early 2007 when He asked me to leave John Deere.

"Are you crazy?"
"You can't be asking me to quit my job."
"Can't I be radical for you and still pursue my career?"
"How will I pay my bills?"
"I know I said I'd do anything Lord...but this?!?"

Never mind the fact that for the weeks leading up to His confirmation, I had been praying and pleading for Him to use me in radical ways to serve the poor.

I trust He is humored by this fickle heart...

So I'm not sure I accepted the calling with the bold carte blanche yieldedness of Mother Teresa...but eventually obedience trumped reason and in true Choose Your Own Adventure fashion, my book suddenly had a vastly different ending.

I can not begin to fathom all I would have missed had I refused.

So you would think the history would pave the way for future surrender...and to be honest...it has...when the tremor measures low on the Richter scale.  But why then when I feel the possibility of a holy rumbling in the distance have I told the Lord "Yes...if I hear your confirmation" and then promptly stuck my fingers in my ears to prevent hearing His response? 

Because what if He says yes?


Notes from 2008 Leadership Summit, Relentless: 
  • What do you do when God taps you on the shoulder and tells you to step up?
  • There is a direct correlation between complete surrender to God and receiving a new assignment
  • We are called to say “yes, without delay” and not to weigh God’s directions against our comforts
  • Some people will misunderstand and misrepresent our calling
  • Callings are precious commodities; they are holy things

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” ~ Jim Elliot