Faithful to the Call | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Faithful to the Call | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mary Shores
10/23/06
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

He arises early each morning to make the coffee and enjoy a few quiet moments reading Scripture. He spends time with his wife continuing the ongoing conversation of marriage. If time allows, he will go running, since he has a personal passion for trying to get a better time in each marathon he runs, but usually he puts that off for a later time. Balancing his personal needs with the call on his life is his biggest challenge. Sometimes he wonders whose children really come first, his three biological sons or all of God’s children who have been entrusted to him. He knows he has a responsibility to them all.

The culture he must enter is foreign and sometimes difficult to understand. There are language barriers and issues with clothing and personal habits. He does not want to stick out in the crowd but to be accepted as a family figure in this diverse community; someone the people in that region can trust. He knows he can only be himself so he submits this task each day to the Lord and prays for wisdom. Handling each conflict with the love of Jesus sets him apart. When his motives are questioned and he is accused of making a wrong decision, he prays that God will lead him into the way in which he should go. Unable to know what the future of each day will be, he goes about in his disciplined way, doing what he knows to do.

He makes himself available for those with questions that require deeper answers. He does not claim to know the answers but gives examples from his own life about what has worked for him. When criticized for not having any idea about how hard life is he shares the stories of his troubled past including the unwelcome surprise of not finding out until manhood that the man who was married to his mother was not his father. It explained a lot about the rejection he felt as a young man and how he had used many unhealthy ways to escape from the pain of rejection. When some think he has had an easy life, he is quick to point out that he has been through some hard times with limited resources and his faith has been thoroughly tested. He has not breezed through life, as some think, just because he is a Christian. One of his favorite messages is that life with God is hard; life without Him is really hard.

The ones who receive the messages he brings go joyfully into the world knowing the truth. They are eager to learn more and come back to visit him and thank him for caring. The ones who will not turn from the destructive paths they are on sometimes come back, too, having received a message of change from another servant of God. Some never return, causing more prayers to be said on their behalf and the undying hope that they will someday find the truth and change their ways.

What he says is not a popular message, but still the message many need to hear. He doesn’t always feel supported for the choices he makes, and his life can be lonely at times when misunderstandings cloud the way he is perceived. But God’s ways are not our ways and we don’t always know why things happen the way in which they do. He is not deterred, however, and presses on in the race set before him. In the kingdom of God, he is a missionary. In the public middle school in which he teaches math, science and a lot about life, he is a teacher.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.