GodReflection: When God Calls
If you have been reading along with me you might recognized I have addresses today’s reflections at times on previous blog posts.

I explored His call upon my life rather extensively in the book Make Your Vision Go Viral under the chapters titled The Call and Desert Formation.
So today, I will begin with a disclaimer. Each time I reflect on my call from God I am again humbled. This morning I am reminded of the statement of Jesus as well as the statement of Paul.

Jesus teaches:

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Luke 12:48).

And Paul reminds me in 1 Corinthians 4:7:

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

In reflection, I don’t believe I am too far off the mark to declare that my call from the Holy started at birth and came through family and church.

With age it becomes clear that no family is perfect and all families are wired dysfunctional with the difference in each family tree being only the degree of dysfunction.

Thus, my birth was not into a perfect family but it was a family tree where God was grafted into the bark.

Extended family were Christ followers traceable to grandparents. A notable influence was my great uncle Dr.Owen Puckett our county health officer. His home was always open “to stop by” for a visit.

To a little boy it was parallel to the apostle John being my great uncle. He loved God, Jesus, the church and people in his community. He brought his medicine and his heart into our home on many occasions. Each time at our place of worship, even when I was a little tyke we would shake hands, he would smile and give words of encouragement.

Obviously, my Christian parents served as formation guides and were a 24/7 influence in my life. A maternal grandpa and a paternal grandma played roles almost daily in my formation. Siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins were also weaved into the fabric.

Then there was church.

My church was like extended family. We worshiped together, ate together and they too were hand shakers, teachers and encouragers.

The leadership maintained a vibrant pulpit from which Scripture was proclaim every week. Periodically morning and night instruction flowed daily through what we called Gospel Meetings.

Is it too strange to conclude that I was born into the family of God at birth and His call through that family shaped my answers each time He called for obedience?

No doubt about it, the silent voice, the doors and the nudges were orchestrated by God. I was called to follow.

Obviously, God uses factors unique to each life as He calls across the face of His globe. Have you thought about your story? How has God called you? Perhaps a tougher question, how did you answer? Might be worth putting on your thinking cap for this one.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: Called to Follow

Gary@Godreflection.org
http://www.GodReflection.org
http://www.MakeYourVisionGoViral.com