On Being Called (and how I wasn't)

*Writing this, I sat in a park and watched butterflies, stink-bugs, and the sky. It's a beautiful day!

People often talk about being called. About how they have or haven't been called to this, or how I have been. This talk of "call" always makes me feel like an impostor. I haven't been called. Or if I have, so has everyone else. Quite honestly, I think the idea of "being called" is quite silly. I won't discount the incredible stories of people who have received clear messages from God to go somewhere or do something. He certainly can and does use incredible ways to get ahold of people. Indeed, sometimes we need a bit of convincing.

I do not have, by human standards, one of these stories. I simply went on a whim, fell in love, and went again. There was one sentence I heard when I was in the process of deciding whether or not to return to Hungary (in 2013) that swayed me. It was just that, "the need is the call." And oh, my friends, the world is full of need.

I believe that there are many different ways I could go, we all could go, many different paths on which God could use us. And God doesn't need our help. I wanted to go. And He either wants me to go, or is graciously allowing me to.

I wonder if sometimes we use "the call" as an excuse not to walk. But the truth is, that Jesus said to go. I know that God can redirect me as I walk, and I invite Him to do so, but I want to be walking. Certainly, we do not all walk in the same way, in the same place, at the same pace, or with the same people. But I think as Jesus' followers, we are all sent. We're all to be in the business of bringing hope.

It's not fair, my friends, to pretend that I am called and others are not. I'm not special. I'm not, without Jesus, qualified. At all. I don't have any special skills. I don't pray constantly. I'm a pretty poor lover of people, but I'm His.

I do not refer myself as "called," because I think we're all in that boat. I'm simply walking. Let's walk together.