If you have ever met me or spent any amount of time with me, you've heard me say that I am not a 'kid person'. I do best with middle school and high school aged kids and to be perfectly honest, I don't really do all that great with adults either. I grew up an only child and was always more comfortable around older kids and adults and as I got older it just stopped with older kids and I became the adult. I love MY kids and I do pretty well with my close friends' children. But do I ever want to do puppet shows and read at storytime? No. Do I want to do crafts with groups of kids? No. Do I want to teach roomfuls of kids with their weird questions and interjections? No.
So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when during my prayer time, God told me to help with Vacation Bible School. I was sitting at my kitchen table, reading my Bible and praying, and I heard God as clear as day telling me to call up the children's minister at our church and volunteer. So, like every good Christian, I got up, called her, and answered God's call. NOT. I laughed! And I went about my day and put it out of my mind.
Two days later, I heard God's call again. And this time, my laugh was more of a chuckle and a, "Umm...hello God. This is me we are talking about. Me no likey children." And I went about my day and put it out of my mind. And around 4 hours later? I heard it louder than ever. I thought to myself, "Surely this has to be God because there is no way in the world I would ever think this up on my own!" I picked up the phone and called our children's minister and warned her what I was about to say would make her jaw drop. And it did. I offered to volunteer for VBS but I said I will not teach...maybe snacks or running around helping. Paperwork? That kind of thing. She laughed at me and said okay and then, I went about my day wondering what the heck I had just gotten myself into.
It reminded me of Samuel. Now Samuel at a young age was being raised by Eli, a priest (the story of how Samuel came to be is pretty awesome...you should read it...it's in 1 Samuel...ha!). Samuel is hanging out one night and he hears himself being called. "Samuel, Samuellllll" So, because he and Eli are the only ones in the house, he goes to Eli and asked what he called him for. Eli sent him back and told him he didn't call for him. This happened three times...and finally Eli realized that God was calling out to Samuel. So he tells Samuel that if he hears the call again to say, "Speak Lord, I'm listening."
God was pretty patient with Samuel. If that had been your parents calling for you and they called you four times and you didn't answer, my guess is that you'd be grounded. My kids would be. And I'd be pretty mad. But God wasn't mad at all. He kept calling out to his child until his child answered him. What he told Samuel matters but not for this story. All that matters is that he answered God's call...finally.
And I guess I felt a little like Samuel. God kept calling me but I wasn't ready to answer that call. He didn't lose his patience and stop calling. He just kept calling me until I listened and I'm super grateful I did. More on that later. God calls us daily through the Word and he has special callings for each of our lives. To be able to hear that call, we need to connect with God more than just on Sundays and holidays. We need to read our Bibles every day, we need to pray every day, we need to ask God to help us understand our calling. If you don't open that line of communication, you're missing out on some pretty awesome stuff.
Maybe your calling right now is just to know Him. That is awesome. ANSWER HIM! If you have never truly answered his call and given your life to Him, don't wait. Just tell him, "Speak Lord, I'm listening". Admit that you are a sinner and you want to know more about him and you want Him to come into your life, believe in Him, and confess that Jesus is Lord. Maybe your calling is to follow through with baptism. Maybe your calling is big and maybe it's small but the Lord uses every single one of us to show the love of Christ, whether you're calling to preach or just called to pray out loud for the very first time.
My obedience paid off and God totally got me. I got put in a 3rd grade class with my daughter and two other teachers. But on the third day, one of our teachers was unable to be there and the other had to help some other kids during Bible story time. So guess who had to teach after they laughed and said no way? Yup. Me. And I loved it. And each of those 21 kiddos left an imprint on my heart and I hope the Gospel left an imprint on theirs. I answered God's call and every time I've ever answered it, I've never regretted it. Take the time to listen and you won't either.
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