A Sense of Call

I think I've said it before - I write when I'm inspired. That makes it a bit difficult to write a regular blog. This week has been busy on and off and has had a number of interesting things in it. However, as you may have noticed, I have not been inspired enough to write any of it down. However, this week I was reminded of how God had gotten my attention 17 years ago.

I had a chance to go downtown on Wednesday to attend and share a few words at a former colleague's celebration of their 25th year working at Yonge Street Mission. I met Bill Ryan in 1982 when I was doing my seminary placement at Yonge Street Mission. He was the pastor of Church on the Street (COTS) - one of the first street churches in Canada. I sat on the Advisory Committee for COTS and then followed Bill as the pastor when he became the director of the Community Centre - another branch of YSM.

He spoke of his call to work at the mission and interestingly enough, my call to work at the mission was closely linked with his. At a COTS advisory committee meeting in October of 1990, Bill said to the group that since he was coming up to his fifth anniversary of his tenure as pastor of COTS he was going to spend the next few weeks evaluating his call to the church - but he was sure he was going to remain.

It was at that moment that God popped a thought into my heart: "Michael, why don't you do that?" Do what? "Become the pastor of Church on the Street!" God (I said), didn't you hear Bill? He said he was sure he was going to remain. Then I put it out of my mind - except it wouldn't stay out of my mind. I started thinking about it all the time - until about two months later when I made an appointment to talk to Bill about how he was doing and about this irritating thought that wouldn't leave my mind

What he told me at that lunch meeting blew my mind! He said that immediately after the advisory committee meeting that past October, the executive director of YSM (Rick Tobias) asked him to be the next director of the Community Centre. God had confirmed the call to me the day He had given it to Bill. We both were amazed at the timing of God.

It took me another couple of months to convince my mind of what my heart was already sure about. In July of 1991 I became the pastor of Church on the Street and then worked for Yonge Street Mission for the next nine and a half years.

Slow Down 2

I found two sources saying the same thing today. The first one is John Ortberg in the previous post saying "ruthlessly eliminate hurry." The second is Scot McNight at Jesus Creed where he speak about slowing down as learning how to breathe - to live life in regular daily doses, finding moments to breathe - to contemplate, pray, relax, play - instead of trying to cram it in. Here is a quote from his post"

Breathe
By Scot McKnight

Some people “breathe” or relax or refresh themselves the way many college students cram – instead of breathing on a routine basis, they hold their collective breath as they fill their schedule with meetings and phone calls to make and events to attend and places to go and e-mails to write and checkbooks to balance and movies to watch and games to play and services to attend and Bible passages to read … I could go on. Discovering that their pace is so breakneck, these same busy folk schedule a weekend off – but to pull it off, they must go out of town or take a whole week off. In other words, they “cram” into their busy schedule some relaxation but have to get out of the house to breathe.

The rest of the article/post can be found here.

Slow Down 1

Two sources but the same message - slow down.

The second source is in the next post.

The first one I read a couple of years ago and the phrase continues to ring in my head: "ruthlessly eliminate hurry." It comes from an article by John Ortberg in Leadership Magazine and you can find it here. I've quoted a section for you:

Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry
by John Ortberg, guest columnist
July 4, 2002

Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction. I described the pace of life in my current ministry. The church where I serve tends to move at a fast clip. I also told him about our rhythms of family life: we are in the van-driving, soccer-league, piano-lesson, school-orientation-night years. I told him about the present condition of my heart, as best I could discern it. What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy?

Long pause.

"You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life," he said at last.

Another long pause.

"Okay, I've written that one down," I told him, a little impatiently. "That's a good one. Now what else is there?" I had many things to do, and this was a long-distance call, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible.

Another long pause.

"There is nothing else," he said. "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."

I've concluded that my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls. As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil."

For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.

Significance - Guest Post

I came across this today (because someone emailed it to me). It seemed too good to keep to myself so thanks to my emailer and thanks to Os Hillman for his guest post. If you want more from Os Hillman, you can check out the original posting of this devotional on his website. As a pastor, I see the value of people living out their lives in their work and play as Christ directs them. That is such a strong witness of the the truth of Christ in all.

Significance
by Os Hillman, September 5, 2007

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands. - Psalm 90:17

Many of us begin our careers with the goal of achieving success. If we haven't entered our work as a result of God's calling, we will eventually face a chasm of deep frustration and emptiness. Success flatters but does not provide a lasting sense of purpose and fulfillment. So often we enter careers with wrong motives-money, prestige, and even pressure from parents or peers. Failing to match our work with our giftedness and calling is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. If that happens over an extended period, a person crashes.

At this time, many make another mistake. Workplace believers think that beginning a new career in "full-time Christian work" will fill the emptiness they feel. However, this only exacerbates the problem because they are again trying to put another square peg into a round hole. The problem is not whether we should be in "Christian work" or "secular work," but rather what work is inspired by gifts and calling. If there is one phrase I wish I could remove from the English language it is "full-time Christian work." If you are a Christian, you are in full-time Christian work, whether you are driving nails or preaching the gospel. The question must be, are you achieving the God-given calling for your life? God has called people into business to fulfill His purposes just as much as He has called people to be pastors or missionaries.

It is time for workplace believers to stop feeling like second-class citizens for being in business. It is time workplace believers stop working toward financial independence so that they can concentrate on their "true spiritual calling." This is the great deception for those called to business.

Significance comes from fulfilling the God-given purpose for which you were made. Ask Him to confirm this in your own life.