If no one rang the bell, would Lurch ever show up?
Monday night my son Jack and I went and got some ice cream. It was his turn for a ‘Special Night With Dad’. On the way home, I decided to pick his brain a little, get some more conversation out of him. I threw the overused “any more thoughts about what job you’d like to have some day?” at him. His response: “I’ve actually been thinking of maybe working for FCA.” Now in my sixth month as a Coaches Ministry Director with FCA, you can imagine my pride. My chest puffs out, and I’m all pleased with my son (and myself), and I decide to probe a little. “That’s great, Jack. What do you like about FCA?” At this point I’m probably subconsciously fishing for some ‘I wanna be like you, Dad’ kind of reply. Instead, he says “Well, I’ve been thinking that maybe instead of an astronaut or firefighter, it might be nice to have a job that’s not so hard.” I was stunned. My son, my own son…trashing my work? More on that later.
Bottom line: As confidently as I can, I know my family and I have been called by God to serve and encourage the Coaches of KC. But my conversation with Jack got me thinking more about calling. Check out a bestsellers list some time. The idea of ‘calling’ is big business. There’s certainly no shortage books that will help us discover why we are here, how to unlock the hidden treasures of the universe, and how we can be most fulfilled. But it puzzles me that some people out there accept the idea of calling apart from a Caller. Logically, no Caller = no calling. To that end, I think we often get it backwards. When we think of ‘a calling’, we think of a job, a place to move to, some kind of major life decision. “Should I take this job?” “Should I marry her?” “Should I write this blog entry?” In his book, The Call, Os Guiness discusses the jobs, moves, etc. as a secondary calling. Our primary calling is always to God Himself. Taking that one step further, a secondary calling apart from a primary calling is simply pointless. It’s a great reminder to me as I consider the question of what does God want me to do that the answer is ALWAYS that He wants me to become what He wants me to be. The secondary calling issues of where, how and with whom flow out of that vertical, primary calling relationship. Not that they’ll always be crystal clear, but if we’re passionately pursuing a relationship with the Lord, there is usually no need to agonize over details. Look at the example of Abram in Genesis 12, or the disciples in Matthew 4. As we consider to what and where we are called (which is certainly important), the more important thing is to remember by Whom and to Whom we are called. Jesus is ringing all of us. Will we, like Lurch, faithfully answer the call each day?
As Jack and I continued our talk, turns out he was thinking that astronauts and firefighters have dangerous jobs, and there might be something to be said for a job that is more out of harm’s way. I appreciated the clarification, and was relieved that I did not need to cry myself to sleep that night.