The Call

 "If I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in His name, His word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones. I am weary of holding it in." Jeremiah 20:9

"The Call to preach!." That's what it was called when I first felt His heart speaking to mine about His call to give all of myself to Him in service. I do think that preaching is the central aspect of His call, but it isn't the only one. One doesn't have to be a preacher in order to give all of themselves to Him in full time devoted ministry and service. It is that "call" that I want to write about today, and I think this month, October, which each year is designated as "Pastor Appreciation Month," is just the right time.

I do think people appreciate their pastors, or at least the majority do. But I don't think many really understand the intensity of the call or the life. How it literally consumes the one who's called. Despite the hardness of the way, and the way is hard, nothing else can quench the fire He places in the heart along with His call. So what I write today I write not only for every pastor walking that hard road, all the while carrying the cross that Christ has given them, but also for those who are being led, shepherded, and loved by these ones. I hope some of my experience might speak to all.

My pastor and friend, Stephen Willis, did me great honor in a post he placed about me on Facebook. He said, "Very few have overcome so much to accept His call and continue on in that call." I don't know if that is so, but the words bless me. I did face seemingly insurmountable obstacles in living out His call to ministry. Divorce, false accusations by my former mate, and just the general atmosphere in the church concerning a divorced and single pastor at the time rendered it extremely unlikely I would ever return to the pastorate. The Father never spoke such to me, but it was not just that kept me holding onto hope. It was the fire He had originally placed in my heart as well. In the years when I was out of the ministry, that burning that Jeremiah spoke of in Jeremiah 20:9, never left me. Though the experience of the pastorate had wounded me deeply, those wounds could not quiet the strength of His call. My absence from the pastorate only deepened His calling on my life. I believe that is the case with every one who is truly called of Him to labor alongside Him in the building of His Kingdom. Nothing else can take its place or quench the fire. I believe this is what is the central mark of one called by Him. A burning that cannot be put out or turned aside. Those who are called know it, and those who they serve must know it as well. If they do, they will begin to see their pastors in a new light. They will see them as the Father sees them.

I hope this helps those who have answered the call but may be in a very hard place, wondering if they can go on. You can. You must. By His grace, you will. You will because His call and your life are bound together and the bond only grows tighter through the years. There will be blood spilled, mostly yours. Sweat and tears as well, but the glory of knowing the crucified Christ in ways you never dreamed really does make it worth it all. Indeed, they really are "momentary and light afflictions" in comparison. I also hope it helps those being served to understand all that goes on in their pastors life and ministry so that they may pray and lift them up as well as support and follow them. There can be no greater way to show deep appreciation and love than that.

Blessings,

Pastor O