Walk With Me

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone had a great week and are ready for an amazing Sunday. I want to start by encouraging everyone to invite someone to church tomorrow. We had a lot of people attend church for the first time last Sunday because of Charlie Kirk, and I want us to keep that momentum going! Church is intimidating for people not used to going, but friends make it better.

“Among other things, this means that I need to discover my vocation, my overall calling in life, composed of my talents, spiritual gifts, and so forth. And I should passionately seek to occupy my vocational place for the good of believers and unbelievers alike.” -J.P. Moreland

I have been on this journey of figuring out my calling for a long time. I do believe our callings change depending on where we are in life, but our overall calling to lead people to Christ never changes. I just spent years working at several different places and figuring out how to bring Jesus into conversations was difficult. People around me knew I was a Christian, but I wasn’t intentional about sharing why. I also wasn’t intentional about inviting co-workers to church. I have learned through the past couple years that building relationships is so important when introducing the Gospel. Sharing about Jesus first starts with love. You have to show someone love before you go into any deep conversation. That is how Jesus approached non-believers before he started telling them about God. He knew that in order to reach someone He needed to spend time with them. Build relationships, love through actions and words, and intentionally tell someone about the reason you are a Christian when the time is right. That is our primary calling that we should be doing everyday either inside or outside our vocation.

The second calling we have is our job or hobby. Right now I am in school to become a missionary. That is what I feel my calling from God is. Are we always going to have a straightforward answer for what our “calling” is? No. For me, I went to Spain recently on a mission trip and came home completely engrossed in missions. I actually spent the last day I was there praying that something would happen that would keep me there a little longer. Suddenly I felt God tugging at my heart so hard towards missions and I was so excited. When I came home, a lot happened in the span of 2 weeks. I immediately met with my missions pastor to talk about steps to make this happen, enrolled in seminary, was let go from my job, moved to another job, got very sick and had to quit that job, started school and now here we are. I just recently got another job that will get me through school until I become a missionary, but for a minute I wasn’t sure what God was doing. All of this happening gave me a feeling of peace that this is what God wants me to pursue and that my calling is missions because He made several things happen when I came back. Will His calling for you be revealed like this? Probably not. All I could do and am still doing is waking up every day praying for God to lead my footsteps for the day. Our God is very much a day-to-day God so we, as Christians, have to stay flexible. I feel called to missions right now, but I know that when I finish school, He could be calling me somewhere else where my degree will be needed and that’s ok.

When it comes to figuring out our calling, we have to make sure it falls in line with our talents and gifts like the quote above said. Why was Charlie Kirk so good at what he did? Why was he so good at debating? Because that is what he was called to do. We were all born with gifts so when you think about your calling, think about what you are good at. Growing up I can’t tell you how much I wanted to be a singer. I always knew I wasn’t called to it because God made me tone-deaf. I’ve spent a lot of my professional career now being a manager and leader and now I’m going into a field where I’m going to have to be independent and lead groups through my ministry. I’m going to school so I can be properly trained and knowledgeable to guide and teach where needed. Finding your calling requires prayer and hard work. Yes, we are born with gifts but those are just the basis of what prepares us for God’s calling.

What I’m going to leave you with is this: do you feel that where you are right now is where God wants you? Do you feel peace about your job, or do you have a sense of doubt every day? If you do feel doubt, I encourage you to pray about it. Now I’m not saying if you pray about it then God will close a door. He might but keep your eyes open for other things. It may be that you pray about it, and you continue to have doubt in your heart about where you are. I think then that will be your answer. But whatever you do, work for the good of both believers and non-believers. Be intentional about making relationships. Have a lot of friends. Listen to God and pray constantly.

You are loved, you are worthy, you are beautiful. Have the best Sunday and God bless.

Courtney McKean