Called

I sat around a church camp campfire one night when I was 15 years old and emphatically declared to the group of fellow campers that God had called me to the ministry.  I was met with applause and cheers because ministry was the highest calling anyone could ever have.  I went to bed that night thinking about all the opportunities I would have and the sermons I would preach.

Fast forward 17 years and I can tell you that those opportunities and sermons didn’t really pan out the way I had hoped.

Maybe that’s a good thing.  Maybe that’s even a “God thing” (I sincerely hate that phrase, but oh well).  Nevertheless, here I am.

The faith tradition I grew up in placed a high emphasis on calling.  Simply put, you just didn’t move until God called you somewhere.  It didn’t matter what it was: if you took a job, it was because God called you there.  If you preached a sermon, it was because God called you to preach it.  If you dumped your significant other, it’s because God called you to break off that relationship.

So for years, that’s what I took with me.  I prayed and hoped and prayed some more for my first ministry out of college.  I ended up in Norfolk, VA.  I was confident God had called me there.  I drove a small U-Haul down there was ready to move mountains because God had called me there!  And there isn’t anything that can stop that!

Well, 14 months later, I packed up yet another U-Haul to cross back over the Blue Ridge Mountains and live in Kentucky once again.  This time I had a job at a college.  I was ready to roll because God had called me here!

Then God called me to plant a church in Middlesboro, KY.  Then the church plant closed after multiple attempts to launch that, ultimately, failed.

Then God called me to northern Kentucky.  I mean, he had to, right!?  I served in AmeriCorps.  Then I became a Student Pastor yet again.  God had called me to it and he would see me through it.

God did see me through it – and he saw me right through packing up my office one night less than two years later.

That’s when I stopped and considered something: maybe God isn’t calling me here, there, and everywhere.  Perhaps I’m just called to follow Jesus.  Period.  And that’s it.

I say “that’s it” like it’s an easy thing to do.  It’s not.  The decision to follow might come with a bit of ease, but the daily bulk of it isn’t.  I’m aware of the irony there.

But maybe we’re all called to follow Jesus.  Maybe calling doesn’t deal with a location, job, person, or thing.  Maybe calling just deals with Jesus.

I follow Jesus because of the life and purpose that he offers.  I don’t follow him so I can lead a megachurch or plant the fastest growing church in America or preach to thousands or pat myself on the back whenever I have had 6 jobs in 9 years.

I really don’t think God calls us to one place or the other.  I think God calls us to take up Jesus’ offer of following him.  And following Jesus means being in places you never thought you’d be.

And it also means that you’re in places you always thought you’d be.

I always thought it was kind of mean to have ministers and pastors talk about this “calling” they had with such admiration to a church full of plumbers, teachers, accountants, factory workers, bosses, managers, and the like.  After all, they’re called to follow Jesus just like the minister/pastor is.  They just don’t have the mystical “calling” thing going on, which makes me second-guess if it’s right or biblical.

If I could go back 10 years and tell senior-in-college-Sean something, I would simply say: Don’t chase the calling – just chase Jesus.

And I tell that same thing to myself today, too.