Answering the Call of Those Who Need You Most

Linda and I were attending Furman’s homecoming some years ago.  Among the people I saw that day that I don’t get to see nearly often enough was Kevin.  Kevin had been one of my apartment mates at Furman’s Montague Village.  Kevin was different from the other three guys who lived with him in that apartment.  While we were studying things like music, religion and psychology, Kevin was mastering mathematics and computer science.  When we graduated, three of us needed to go on to seminary to get yet another degree.  When Kevin graduated, he accepted a position in the Research and Development Department of Duke Energy.  Now, some twenty years after graduation, Kevin and I were catching up on each other.  After asking about family and children, I wanted to see how Kevin’s professional life was progressing, so I asked, “How are things at Duke Energy?”  His answer caught me off guard.  “I’m not with Duke Energy anymore.”  “OK,” I answered, “so what are you up to now?”  “I’m teaching math in a critical needs high school.”  I wondered if my friend had gotten in some kind of trouble with Duke or maybe had lost his mind, so I dug deeper, “Kevin, what made you decide to become a high school math teacher?”  He grinned as only he could do and looked at me as though to say, “You don’t get it, do you?”  Then he answered my question.  “I realized that Duke Energy doesn’t need me.  They have plenty of good computer people.  But those students really need a good math teacher and I’m going to give them one.” 

Kevin was a very successful computer programmer and analyst for Duke Energy.  He could have worked there for the rest of his career.  He could’ve earned enough to help support his former apartment mates serving in the ministry.  But his life changed dramatically when he heard a call, the call of the people who needed him most. 

The Apostle Paul heard that same kind of call, a call that changed his understanding of his ministry and the direction of his life’s work.  He was busy taking care of the churches he had started.  He was helping them grow.  Suddenly, his path felt blocked, not by anything outside him, but by someone inside him.  God wouldn't let him continue serving the same people in the same way.  Paul had a dream of a man from Macedonia, a place he'd never been, begging him to come to a new place and share the good news with people who'd never heard.  Paul's ministry changed when he heard the call of the people who needed him most. 

This is the time of year when many churches like ours think about the needs of the world, the millions of people living in hundreds of places who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ in a way they can understand and believe.  We’ll do some good things for those people during the Christmas season like making gifts to special mission offerings to support missionary work all over the world.  That’s a good thing.  But before we can do our best to share Christ’s love with a lost world, we, like my friend, Kevin, like the Apostle Paul, need to hear a call, the call of the people who need us most.  Only then will we change the direction of our lives, enlarge the purpose of our earthly journey, and help the people who need us most.