Untitled Sermon (7)

We’re going to be discussing calling this morning, yes one reason to talk about calling is that there are some grads in attendance who will soon be trying to figure out what their calling is… but this isn’t just for the grads, this discussion is relevant regardless of how old you are, how long you’ve worked, or what career you currently find yourself in.

When I graduated I was faced with endless questions about my future…

What do you want to do with your life… are you going to university… which one will you go to… what program are you applying for…

This was all quite stressful as a newly graduated young man, especially because I didn’t just want a career that would make me happy, I wanted a career that God wanted me to have. So all these questions and the stress of it all made me start to ask God what He wanted of me… over and over again.

That summer after high-school I went to summer camp and God spoke to me at one of the evening chapel services about my future. God told me that I need not worry about what I was going to do with my life and that I should trust Him to lead me to where He wanted me, when He wanted me there, doing exactly what He wanted me to do.

That word from God brought so much peace to my heart. It was a moment of realization that I was so focused on trying to get it right and take the path that God wanted me to take that I forgot to actually trust that He would guide my footsteps… if only I would start walking.

Think about how you guide someone who is blind… if they don’t walk, if they don’t take one step at a time, how are you supposed to turn them and lead them through the many obstacles that they will undoubtedly face.

Sure, if we were guiding them and they weren’t walking we could turn their body to face the right direction, we could even apply pressure to let them know forward or backward… but unless they actually take the first step themselves we can’t lead them anywhere.

The same principle applies when we try to discern where God may be leading us. God gave us the ability to make decisions, to walk with confidence, not to stand there in confusion and fear waiting for Him to do everything for us.

He wants us to trust that He will guide us in the direction that He desires, and it will happen as long as that is what we desire and we are willing and open to change course as He leads.

So I decided to walk. I made the decision to go to the University of The Fraser Valley and get my bachelors degree in Kinesiology and then go on to med school and be a doctor. Let’s just say that about one year into me walking God turned my shoulders and I started down a different one. God led me to Summit Pacific College to be a youth pastor through a summer internship running a middle school youth group. Now I am the lead pastor of a little church in Fernie BC which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.

But we’re talking about callings and careers right? What’s the difference? How does this play into that…

God’s calling on our lives remains the same regardless of the career we choose.