During May I preached a series on the call of God (you can hear them via a subscription at iTunes or at the audioblog listing).  In one of the messages I wanted to show the people how they could be prepared to receive God’s call. But I ran into a problem. Over and over again, God didn’t call people who were quietly sitting around waiting for a call. Instead, the norm proved to be a call that interrupted their lines, a call that was the last thing they expected.

My own call was unexpected. For most of my high school life, I had planned to go into physics or astronomy. During those same years, however, God was at work, drawing me in. In the fall of my senior year I finally responded to God’s call to a life with him (what we call becoming a Christian). Right about that same time came a call to ministry. I didn’t want anything to do with it. Surely God was confused. I had other plans. But God interrupted.

God seems to like doing that. Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, Paul – all interrupted. So I had a set aside my yearning for a nice neat method I could give my people to get involved with God’s call. There were no “Four Steps to Hearing God’s Call,” so I had to shift my focus.

You who are preachers or teachers, does God – or kingdom reality – ever mess with your messages?