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Am I to be a Butcher, a Baker, or a Candlestick Maker?

What was Christ’s calling?  To be a carpenter, a son, a friend, a teacher, or a servant leader?

Gary Barkalow, in his work on calling, posited that we have the following.

ROLES: These exist by virtue of our existence or by our decisions.  We are a son or daughter, a father or mother, a brother or sister, a  . . .

ASSIGNMENTS: These are our work, our ministry, or our hobbies. They change over time.

So which of these is our calling?

Was Christ’s calling to be a carpenter or a teacher, or was His calling to be who He was AS a son, brother, carpenter, or teacher, as a humiliator of Pharisees, as a flipper of commerce tables, as an approacher of a scorned woman, as a healer of the ill, or as one who will return on a white horse with the words KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS written on his robe and thigh?

Can you see? He offered his unique and authentic self, His being truly God and truly man, in all of his roles and assignments. His calling was to offer Himself wherever He was, even on a cross, in a tomb, and again with his disciples.

You are saying that my calling is not my assignment nor my role? My calling is not to be a mom or a CEO or a minister? Then what is my calling?

CALLING:  To offer your unique and true self in your Roles and in your Assignments, whatever they may be.

It is to offer your genuine identity, your core and good desires, your unique gifts and talents, and your purpose, as no one else can, as a father, or manager, or volunteer, or pastor.  And, when you live out of your true and good desires, your roles and assignments tend to align and have significant purpose. You may also see them quite differently.

This does require that you know who you are, that you live out of and towards your true and good desires, that you know your purpose, and that you are giving permission to be fathered into all of these.

Want to find out how?  Check us out.

Leave your comments on what you think below, and check our Gary’s book It’s Your Call to learn more about calling.

 

 

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Squirrel

“Squirrel”

A brilliant line from the movie UP, but maybe more descriptive when considering our struggles to walk closely with God.

Are you squeezed for time?  Five minutes checking ESPN or Facebook or Pinterest, playing a quick game, or going down the Youtube America’s-Got-Talent-Golden-Buzzer-Winners rabbit hole may seem a needed distraction or quick form of entrainment. None of these are usually bad, and sometimes they are needed, as in, “Did the Tribe win its 50th in a row?”, or “How can I help the people who were impacted by Harvey and Irma?” But how many times are they simply, “Squirrel?”

I hear fellow believers who are “striving” to walk closely with God as if it is meant to be hard. Imagine — you are running a lathe, working at your desk, or playing with your child, and someone you love or admire walks in, a very dear friend, a spouse, LeBron James. What would you do?

You’d pick up your iPhone, open up Facebook, tell them to wait, and start scrolling, or you’d flip open Netflix and start watching Dr. Who. You think?

Stop for a second and reflect on a time that happened. How did you engage that person or people? Are you smiling just remembering?

If we actually believed that the maker of the universe was standing at our doors and knocking, and He actually is the vine apart from which we can do nothing, what could we do if we realized He is at our places of work, our offices, or at our homes, especially in the crazy-making moments? What I’ve observed? We go all “squirrel,” picking up our phones, getting lost in distractions, and then telling ourselves, “Well, I just wasted a few minutes, I’ll won’t do it again.”

What if instead you engaged God in that moment, spoke with Him, told him what was going on in your day, maybe even used your phone to check out a scripture or to play a favorite worship song?  What if you asked Him for counsel, for light for your path, for wisdom? What if you just took a few moments or minutes to let Him in? By that simple act, you may already be walking more closely with Him than before.

We invite you to take the:

“I’ll-Set-My-Phone-Aside-and-Talk-With-God-For-a-Few-Moments Challenge,”

Then see what happens. Oh wait, I have to go, Best Buy has another sale . . ..

What are your squirrels? Leave in comments below.