For The Sake Of The Call

Have you every gotten a call out of the blue that just changed the mood of your whole spirit?

The other day I got a call from someone I didn't know inviting me to work the Tres Dias weekend coming up in July. It was an unexpected call and it took me by surprise. It lifted my spirit up so much to be invited to do this because I know how much these weekends change peoples lives. It's great fun to be a part of something like that. I'm so excited to get to work the coming weekend because I am getting to work a job that involves one of my favorite things...Prayer. If I could do any job it would be just what I got asked to do. I'm not giving many details on that because I know some of you have not been through Tres Dias yet and I don't want to take away any of the surprises of what goes on there. If you ever think that Tres Dias is a lot of secrets....let me just give you a heads up and say.....there are no secrets...none at all....just an incredible weekend filled with life changing surprises and a intimate encounter with Christ our Savior.

This post is actually not about Tres Dias....however, there probably will be one about that someday. If any of you ever have any questions about it....give me the opportunity to tell you about it. My Tres Dias weekend showed me my Savior in a way I had never ever seen him before...and it completely changed my whole life.

This post is really about "Answering the Call". Getting that call really lifted my spirit and got me to thinking about how sometimes calls change our lives. Sometimes we get calls that take us by surprise. Some are good news and some inevitably are bad news. All are an opportunity for us to be Jesus to someone.

Don't you just love it when you get a phone call that brings good news? Doesn't it just lift your spirit and make you want to dance inside? Don't you automatically want to share your good news with everyone....right away? I do. I'm wondering....do you or I before anything else stop and say "Thank You" to God? All blessings come from above and from our God alone. When those good news calls come....do we say to the bringer of the good news...."This is a blessing from God and I am so thankful" ? We should. We need to give glory to God at every opportunity. Especially if they are not a Christian. We may be the only Jesus they ever see.

Don't you just hate it when a call brings bad or sad news. I just hate it when that happens. I just want to whine and complain or cry about the injustice of it all. I only want to think about me and how it effects me. I have been thinking that I should try to remember in those times that God is still on the throne and he is still in control. Nothing happens on this earth without his permission so who am I to judge what he has allowed. And even more than that...what kind of an example am I to the one who brings the bad news? Do I come across as self-centered or shallow? Or do I make a statement that shows that even in that moment ....I still trust my Savior no matter what?

Sometimes it may not be an actual call to tell us something. Sometime it may be a friend or stranger...challenging us to "answer the call" to do something we don't want or feel prepared to do. Sometimes it is a call to help others...or to step out in faith and make a difference in the world around you. Sometimes those calls challenge us to get out of our comfort zones and take a stand for right. Sometimes it is even "The Call" from God...to become a minister or a leader in the church.

There are all types of calls. Some are actual phone calls and some are "The Call" from God or others. Whatever the type of call....how we respond is very important. Sometimes the response we give may be the only vision of God that some people ever see. That has really been on my heart this week. I want to answer the call....whether it be good or bad or a call from my Heavenly Father...in a way that will glorify him to everyone around me.

Sometimes I think it comes down to this. How we respond to a call may make a lasting impact on how some people around us view God. May we always answer in a way that they will see Jesus in us.

I was thinking of the old Steven Curtis Chapman song "The Sake of the Call".

Some of the words go like this....

We will abandon it all
for the sake of the call

No other reason at all
than the sake of the call

Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call

I pray that we may we be wholly devoted to bring glory to him as we answer the call.