Ordinary Calling

Isaiah 6:1-8

“Ordinary Calling”

13 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            For some reason I’m drawn to call stories. Maybe it’s because I had to reflect so much on mine and draw out the theological implications of how God called me to ministry that I’ve become attuned to the work of God in the ordinariness of our lives. Maybe it’s because call stories are good examples of God doing the unexpected with the most unlikely people.

            I still clearly remember the day I knew God was calling me to different work. A saint of the church came up to me and told me what I had been quietly mulling over for months. I knew it was a sign. To top it off, she and another woman of God made me a promise that day that came to fruition.

            But, my call story isn’t just that moment. In fact, the more important parts are what happened around that moment.

            As many of you know, I’ve been in the Navy a while but I haven’t always been a chaplain. Growing up all I ever wanted to be was an astronaut. So, I studied hard because astronauts are some of the brightest people I’ve ever met. I played sports, not just because I was trying to get into the Naval Academy, but because being an astronaut is physically demanding. I was in Scouting eventually earning my Eagle, though that may be more due to my mom’s pushing and nagging about finishing it up, because there are a lot of astronauts past and present that have cut their leadership teeth in Scouting. I convinced my parents to send me to Space Camp for a week one summer.

            There was one small obstacle. I thought it was small at the time, but it sent the NASA train right off the tracks. My eyesight is horrible. I knew I couldn’t be a pilot, the preferred military occupation to get into NASA, so I headed the opposite way, to the submarine force. I even applied to NASA as a Mission Specialist because I knew they’d never let me fly the Shuttle with my eyes. But, the Navy had a different idea about my plans and disqualified me from flight, forever. No waiver possible. Or maybe God was already moving me towards a different path.

            I decided to volunteer with the youth group at the church I was attending in Charleston, SC, Mount Pleasant Presbyterian. I specifically asked to work with the High School group because I didn’t think I was ready for Middle School students. So, guess what grade I got assigned? Seventh Grade. There were many choice and colorful words yelled at the computer when I read the email from the Youth Director letting me know she felt I’d be a good fit for that group. I think she and I had spoken a grand total of 5 minutes at that point and I highly doubt she could have picked me out of a crowd. For the record, we are now good friends and I absolutely love her and her family. Did she feel I was a good fit for that group, or did God guide her to place me with them because that is where I was meant to be?

            That was an interesting year. But, I grew to love those students so much that I volunteered to move up with them to eighth grade the next year. To this day I still talk with them and smile at the amazing men and women they have become, especially as they are now raising their own children. I became good friends with two of my fellow youth advisors, one of which is also now a pastor. She started seminary a year after I did. God was working on me the whole time.

            As all of this was going on, I had a pull away from the submarine world. Nothing too strong, but strong enough that I knew I was probably going to leave the Navy at the 11 year point and come back to Charleston to teach high school physics. I was working on my Masters in Education and I felt drawn to teach at a disadvantaged school. So, I left Charleston for my last tour on a submarine and what I thought would be the last three years in the Navy.

            As I was transferring I headed to a conference for youth at Montreat, NC with the high school students as they were in desperate need of male back home leaders. It was a great week. In fact, I had so much fun that I flew back from Hawaii the next year so I could see my former seventh grade students experience Montreat for the first time.

            During that second summer is when I was talking with the students about how money isn’t everything and that God may lead you places you aren’t expecting. I was making good money and wasn’t all that happy in the job, so I was going to follow God’s call on my heart and go back to Charleston and teach physics. I’d get to come back and spend time with them because they gave me energy and life and I always learned so much from those students. I had the plan all worked out. But, God had other ideas.

            God didn’t want me to do ministry part time, he wanted me to dive right in. I figured I could minister through teaching and the youth group, but God needed me elsewhere. So, when I articulated my grand plan with the students they, and God, were listening.

            On the last night there is always a candle light service. It’s a beloved Montreat Youth Conference tradition. As we are all singing and closing out the week, one of my fellow back home leaders came up behind me and said, “Did you ever think God wanted you to teach something different?” I gave that “Whatchu talkin’ about Willis” look and she said, “I’ll buy you your first robe.”

            Well, there it was. God speaking to me through someone else. Those words made my head spin. God really is listening not just to what we say, but what we think. I had thought about seminary and ministry but not seriously. Now here it was facing me. So, I went back to Hawaii and started talking with my chaplain and a pastor at my church. The question I asked the most, “Is this a call?” It was and here am I.

            Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the dramatic stories of people like Isaiah and his story of having hot coals put on his lip so that he can go out and speak God’s word that we think God only calls us when we hear a voice from heaven or some supernatural event occurs to wake us up to our destiny. People experience that and those stories are great to hear.

            However, I have discovered (not just through my story) that most people find their true calling through the ordinary and after many wrong turns, road blocks, miscommunications, and taking a different road than the GPS suggests. Both kinds of stories are worth telling and hearing. We need to hear them both. But, God works through ordinary people doing ordinary things. It’s because God is there in the story that it becomes extraordinary.

            We all have God calling us to do something. Maybe the call is so subtle we only catch faint whispers or see a shimmering figure in the distance that intrigues us. Pay attention to those moments and talk to your church community to help figure out what it all means.

            The other thing to remember is that God will prepare you for your calling. Isaiah, like many who speak God’s word felt unworthy. So, God purified him and showed him that he was worthy not only of God’s love and grace but also to be one to give that love and grace to the world.

            Nor does the call story end when you realize where you are headed. Isaiah’s story definitely didn’t end here, it only grew and, like us, there are moments when the call is confirmed. While we may not have an angelic vision for our call, we all have something to which God has called us to further the Kingdom. So, let us go forth looking in the ordinary events of our lives for where God has placed an extraordinary call.

            By the way, as I neared graduation from seminary I got two checks from the two women in Mount Pleasant that promised to pay for the robe. I had already ordered the robe and didn’t expect them to send me anything for graduation as I thought it was just God’s way of putting me on a path. The two checks came a day apart and together covered the cost of the robe, plus one cent.