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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Happy (07/12/07)
Why don’t you go home? You’ve been at this for more than thirty years. You don’t owe anything to anyone after all these years of service.

I’m mulling the words over in my mind. What is it that keeps me here? It’s not like anyone is depending on me to stay. No, I’ve been very careful to NOT become indispensable, not to be the tool, but to help believers form their own tools cultivating for themselves the ground God wants to bless with abundant spiritual growth. If they were more dependent, I could convince myself that I couldn’t leave them.

You’re the author of your own redundancy. You’ve equipped them well enough to work yourself out of a job. So, go somewhere else! Your gifts are portable.

I think I’ve done all I can do; all God wanted me to do. In any case, I haven’t got another generation-of-disciples-to-equip in me. I can’t repeat the process anymore, that spark is gone. I can no longer return after Home Assignment and pick up where I left off. For one thing, there isn’t anything now to pick up after. For another, the Lord has called me to go in a different direction, to fulfill a dream.

So, go home.

I can’t. The Lord has changed the mission, but I don’t have any indication that the place is any different. Besides, any major changes in location for me have always come from phone calls out of the clear blue sky at unexpected moments.

If you’re waiting for a phone call these days, you may wait forever —you’ve been “on hold” for a while now.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t wait for a phone call — being that specific is kind of like putting God in a box. Maybe I’m hoping for some catastrophic event to happen: earthquake, coup, getting my pink slip in the mail. I’d be forced to leave. The latter won’t happen — missionaries seldom get fired — and I really don’t want to go through the former. I’m paralyzed, waiting for something to happen, and I don’t understand why!

Someone is going to be issuing you a dose of Prozac any minute now. You must be going through a mid-life crisis. It could be too many traumatic changes and stresses over these last few years. You’re depressed. Remember, a general, non-specific feeling of unhappiness is one of the signs.

And talking to myself is a sign of … ? Anyway, I’m eating, sleeping, socializing, and working well. I like this country as much as I like my own — most of the time. I love this apartment with its “view-to-die-for.” On top of all that, I have been allowed the freedom to follow my dream and go in a new direction with the blessing of my superiors.

Then why are you so unsettled? Why are you having such a hard time getting down to making the dream a reality, to posting your mileage signs on the highway of your new direction? Why are you waiting for a phone call?

I’ve waited so long for this, and now that it’s here, I’m afraid that it won’t be what I have imagined it to be. Part of me doesn’t want it to be as good as the other part of me dreams it will be. Maybe the wait for the phone call is just my way of putting off the fulfilling of the dream, so that its culmination doesn’t become a stumbling block, an idol, or a false source of satisfaction. If I hold off the source of temporal joy, then I can hang on more tightly to the source of eternal joy.

Do you think you know yourself so well, that you can be sure you’d dethrone God with a dream? Do you really believe He gave you the chance to go in this direction, to make this dream a reality, if He didn’t want you to go there, if you were going to fail Him once you arrived? Location has nothing to do with this, does it?

I guess not. Gifts, like dreams, are portable. I can use them, and live them out anywhere. Also, I’m not talking to myself, am I?

It started out that way, but I eavesdrop a lot. A friend of mine once said that I would never lead you where I couldn’t keep you. He was right. Now go, enjoy living out the dream, whatever it takes you. Consider this your phone call.
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This article has been read 1485 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Joanne Sher 
07/20/07
I love the idea of this. The last paragraph is absolutely PERFECT in my opinion! Isn't God SO like that?
Personally, I would have liked a bit more detail on exactly what his choice was - but you may have avoided it on purpose for effect. Very strong writing, regardless!
Dee Yoder
07/21/07
I love the shift of the main character starting out thinking he's talking to himself and then realizing at the end that he's having a conversation with God. Well written!
Edy T Johnson
07/23/07
You have such a depth of perception laid out for us in your story. You leave your reader with lots to think about, and that's good.
Catrina Bradley
07/24/07
Unique, and creative! I enjoyed this author's conversation with "herself". Very deep and intelligent writing.
Joy Faire Stewart
07/24/07
You have described perfectly the spiritual struggles many Christians experience. Excellent writing.
Loren T. Lowery
07/25/07
Among other things, I loved the line, "I'm not talking to myself, am I?"

I never thought of the Holy Spirit reasoning with us in such a clever way, but now I can. Thank-you for a great, insightful read!
Dixie Phillips
07/26/07
Loved this tug-of-war writing... Kind of lifted the curtain of our souls and take a peek into each one of us. This piece is timeless. You are one talented writer.
Kristen Hester
07/26/07
I loved being inside the MCs head and listening to her inner dialouge. I wanted to know more, though. What was her dream? Seriously, please tell me. Great writing.