Obedience

At church on Sunday we'll be doing a drama that Amy wrote titled "The Spiritual Welfare Office" that was inspired by our last Creative Planning Team meeting. She's been working on the script for the last few weeks and trying to figure out who to cast in it. One of the parts was easy since she wrote it for the person, but the other part was proving difficult. She asked several people who were all unavailable for one reason or another.

Last night, she called Mike F. at about 10:10 to follow up on an earlier email asking if he was interested. He said his schedule was crazy this weekend and he didn't think he could do it. After talking some more with Amy about the options, she was ready to throw in the towel and just cancel it. I really felt like this drama was something we were supposed to do. I really didn't feel like I was the person that was supposed to do it, but agreed to do it if the only other option was to cancel it.

This morning, as I was blogging my earlier post, Mike F. called back (roughly 7:20) and said that he felt God impressing on him the need to do the drama if we needed him. Amy was thrilled and I was off the hook. I'm not sure exactly whether Mike F. was the person that was supposed to do it or not, but apparently I wasn't.

This situation reminded me of a time at camp about three years ago when we were praying for the staff members. The staff with the camp that we've been doing for five years is a great group of really deep people. I have always been somewhat intimidated by them, not because of anything that they have ever done, but because of my own insecurity. I remember we were laying hands on each staff member and praying for them as God led us. We got to one particular staff member and I really felt like I was supposed to pray, but I felt so inadequate to do it that I held back. After a few minutes of silence, Mike D. (a different Mike than the one above), the director of the camp said, "I really believe someone else is supposed to pray for this person, but if they don't, I will." Of course this intimidated me even more and I didn't want to admit that I was the holdout, so I kept silent and Mike D. went on to pray.

I think what I realized in connecting these two stories is that there are times when you have to step up and do something that you don't believe you are called to do because the person who is really supposed to refuses to do it. If the task is something that God really wants to have happen, He will not allow the refusal of one person derail the plan. If I had done the drama, would God have blessed it as much as if Mike F. (or any other person He called) did it? I don't know. Did God work as mightily through the prayer that Mike D. (the director) offered as He would have if I had been faithful to pray like I was supposed to? I don't know. Am I learning about faithfulness, obedience and the work of God through these two stories? Yeah. It may take me awhile to process all that I'm learning about this, but I feel like God has allowed me to see a little more about the reality of the kingdom.