1 God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you. (The Message)
This is the call that people fear if they begin to take their faith to seriously. It is ok if God tells me to make small changes in my life or sometimes even larger ones as long as I get to stay safe and in the familiar. But we don't want to hear, "Sid, give up everything you thought you were going to do and the people you know and who know you and go to a place that is totally different than what you have become accustomed to." But we do hear that call and at least for me it has taken me places that I would not have gone otherwise. The first time I heard that call to leave what I knew and go to a strange place I ended up attending Seminary. The second time the call came I found myself in Wawaka, Indiana. This most recent time the call has put me in the position of leading a small group of people starting a new church with different focus than most.
I will be honest and say that non of the times that I've heard God say, "leave what you know and go to..." was I excited about the possibilities. But I will also say that in all of the times I have had to rely upon God it has been far greater than I could have ever anticipated. I have grown because I have followed and now cannot imagine what it would be like not to have followed the leading.
I won't say that following God's leading has been easy or even fun. In fact in the midst of this latest adventure I've very uncertain as to how it is all going to turn out in the end. What I've learned in the midst of it all is that where God leads is filled with surprises beyond my imagination. So I am prepared to live the life of a nomad, following the call of God where ever it will lead and trusting that through it all God will be faithful.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- When Abram first heard God calling him to leave his own country what do you think his first response must have been?
- Have you ever felt like God was calling you to something completely new? What was it?
- Have you ever said yes to God in a completely new way? Have you ever said no to God when you were invited to do something new?
- Where might God be calling you to a new place or way of living today?
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