An active teenager in church, I had never given thought to entering the ministry. A Week after my high school graduation in 1973, I attended a “Youth Revival” with our church group. That night the guest evangelist spoke about what we “young people” would do with our lives. I remember going forward and asking for prayer. Shocked as I was to hear it, I knew that God was calling me to enter into full-time ministry. Guess what? I didn’t want to do it, so I didn’t. I ran away from that calling and avoided doing anything very spiritual for a number of years.
God blessed me anyway with a good paying job at the Postal Service, a great marriage, and 2 healthy kids. Later, when I got involved in my local church and recommitted my life to Christ, God started calling me again. I realized that things I was doing to find fulfillment in life were making me miserable because I was not in the center of God’s will for my life. In 1995, I reluctantly went on a Mission Trip to Mexico. The whole time there, God kept whispering that he was still calling me to ministry after 22 years of running away. At home, I told my wife what had happened and she said, “What took you so long? I recognized your calling many years ago.”
We started life over in 1996 by quitting our jobs, selling our home, and moving to another state for me to attend College and then Seminary. Now, after having served 13 years as a pastor, I know that God “allowed” me to run from Him those years for a reason. He knew I was not quite ready to serve Him yet. In seminary, I felt guilty for wasting years I could have been serving my Lord, but God has since affirmed that my life experiences during those years of “testing” has made me more compassionate to peoples’ needs, and more ready to serve God’s purposes not my own. I, for one, am proud that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), and that God equips and uses those whom He calls in His timing.