2-21-21 Conference Call

Quote: “No one else is supposed to understand your calling.  It wasn’t a conference call.”

I remember when I got the call.

I was sitting on a mountain top with my friend Amanda.  We were both so out of shape and out of breath from climbing up that stupid mountain that we literally thought we were going to pass out from exhaustion!  We were covered with dirt and sweat and tears.  We had made it to the top of that Guatemalan Montaña.  And besides being in a plane, I was now physically closer to God than I had ever been before.  We both put our arms around each other’s shoulders and gazed out at the hills and valleys around us.

We heard God start speaking to us loud and clear.  It wasn’t a deep, booming voice.  It was a whisper in the wind that tugged hard on both of our hearts.  He told us we had to bring people back here.  And not just to see the beauty, but to get away.  To break free from schedules and phones and appointments and responsibilities.  To see another culture, way of life, and pace.  To find peace and purpose and meaning for their life.

But there was more.  God had a warning.  My friend and I went off by ourselves on the top of that mountain to have alone time and just be “in” the moment to soak it all in.  I heard God say that people were going to ridicule us and ask us why we couldn’t just experience God in our own country, where there are people who are just as needy and hurting.  And he said, oh daughter, don’t worry about what they think!  Your calling is special.  There are going to be people in your life that need to get far, far away from the world they live in and get uncomfortable.  They need to remove themselves to restore themselves.  They need to be on this mountaintop and let me fill them with encouragement and hope and peace.  You just bring them here and then let me do the rest.

Message received.

You may never go on a trip to that mountain top with me and that is 100% a-okay!  But I’m telling you that’s what my calling is.  That’s the phone call I received.  You weren’t there.  And even my friend that was there heard differently during her quiet time just a few feet away.

Paul wrote many letters to encourage churches and his words are captured in our Bible.  As he’s sitting in a prison cell, probably shackled in chains, he writes this verse in Ephesians 4:1 – “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  This inspires me to live a life of purpose and passion.  I must take the phone call!

We will all get different phone calls.  You do you.  I’m gonna’ just be me!