Role Model

 

C is for Call

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvellous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’

Jeremiah 33:3 (The Message)

What Car?

I've always been one of those people who keeps asking questions. It's how you learn! However the type of questions that I ask now are subtlely different.

Let's look at cars. In the past I used to ask God questions like "What car should I be driving? What job should I have?" And so on.

As I have gone along, I've realised that God is much more concerned about developing our character than anything else. Therefore:

- God cares more about how I drive than what I drive.
- God cares more about I behave to the neighbours than what kind of house I live in.
- God cares more about how wise I am with my money than how much I have.

As I continue to look at my own calling, I've stopped asking God what sort of job I should have. Instead, it's a case of looking at my own skills, identifying the person that I am now, and therefore asking of God "where can I be of the most use?"

I'll keep you posted as to the answer.

Do I Need To Hit The Bullseye?

I've blogged a great deal on the subject of vocation, and also had chats with friends and colleagues on the subject. And that's because I am striving to be right in the centre of God's will for my life. That's where I need to be.

Now, I know that God cares for me. I know He has particular tasks for me to do (Jeremiah 29:11). However, how much freedom does He give us? How much leeway? If I aim for the centre, do I have to hit the bullseye or will an 'inner' do?

The thing is, I have a choice. I am not a puppet, I am an individual with particular strengths and weaknesses and am therefore looking where my particular spiritual gifts will be the most use.

These gifts also include wisdom, discernment, an imagination; He trusts us to work it all out and to choose His way. We have clear guidelines for our lives within the Bible; within those guidelines He gives us freedom.

But unfortunately I'm a lousy shot. Do I need to work on that, too?

:)

Finding Your Purpose

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." — Frederick Buechner

My pursuit of a tangible confirmation of my own particular calling has led me to some teachings from a minister called RK Castillo. His own spin on the subject suggests that you should work out what you are particularly adept at and use that for the Kingdom of God. That's practically a paraphrase of the Buechner quotation above, so I'm encouraged. However, Castillo recommends identifying four areas rather than two; where these four meet is where He needs you to be (or in Castillo's words "where you have been perfectly designed by God to make a huge difference in people’s lives"). His four areas are:

Passion : the one thing that you do that excites you, the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning.

Strengths : the special gifts that each of us have; your particular talents, the stuff you are naturally good at.

Needs : that area where you are particularly adept in meeting people's needs, fixing their problems as if it were second nature.

Calling : perhaps the toughest of the lot, this is identifying the specific niche that God is calling you to fill. The easy bit? To simply ask Him in prayer to clarify what you should be doing. He'll tell you. The hard bit? To take it in. To accept what He is telling you. So, are you listening? Do you want to hear what He is saying?

Read some more about RK's teaching here .

:)

Have You Heard The Call?

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since I last talked about vocation; about ensuring that I'm in the place where God wants me to be. I've talked to many friends about the subject; prayed about it; been to DFL and Leadership days; pushed a few possible doors which have remained irritatingly and stubbornly shut. I've seen friends that were wrestling with the whole concept of vocation at the same time as me step forward and make decisions, becoming Salvation Army Cadets, Lieutenants and Territorial Envoys. And I'm pleased for them. Several still ask me whether 'I have heard the call', i.e. a call to officership, a call to pack my bags and head off to Denmark Hill for a couple of years...

A recent entry on the Armybarmy blog caught my eye and inspired this post. It was saying that the sole distinction between soldiership and officership should be 'availability' (according to Commissioner Wesley Harris). I understand that - each Salvation Army soldier (regardless of the colour of their epaulettes, or even if they wear any!) has made a decision to follow God, to be 'sold out' to God, to do what he or she can for the Kingdom.

The Commissioner states that those called to officership go that step further and relinquish their employment so that they can be mobilised quickly. It's not a higher or greater calling. It's just different. And just because one person is called to officership and another to soldiership in a Corps setting, doesn't make their individual calls any less.

Yes, I can say that I have received a call. I've been having a chat or two about my own particular call to mission, about all the things I am involved with at the moment. I am still working out where this may lead me, or whether in fact it doesn't lead me anywhere.

However, if you are asking whether I am ignoring the call? Never.