An old adage says, “The longest journey begins with a single step”! God asked Moses to lead the Jewish people out of the bondage of Egypt and take them to the Promised Land. When God spoke to him, he was in the backside of the desert; God got his attention with a burning bush. What if he had seen that bush and thought “Wow, a burning bush, wonder what Zipporah has cooked for supper”, and turned aside. God would have found someone else to do the job, Mission Aborted. There was a lad, Samuel, who was upon his little cot waiting for sleep, his mom took him to the Temple and gave him to the Lord for His service, maybe he was sad and a little homesick. He heard a voice calling his name, he asked the Priest, Eli, if it were he calling to him. Finally Samuel went back to bed, heard the voice calling him and answered, “Speak God, I’m Your servant and I’m listening”. We know Samuel was a chosen vessel, but he could have ignored the voice, rolled over and gone back to sleep, Mission Aborted. Skip to the book of Acts and listen as Saul, on the road to Damascus, hears Jesus ask, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul heard the voice and obeyed and ended up giving us, through his writing, most of the New Testament! There was one who heard the call and tried to follow, but well it was the Apostle Peter! He was with his fellow disciples crossing the sea when they looked out and saw Jesus, walking on the water! Peter, always the loud mouth of the group, jumped out of the boat in an attempt to show off a little and walk on the water also! His faith failed him and he sunk like a rock, but Jesus reached out and snatched him from the depths. If he had kept his eyes on Jesus and not on the water, he would have been able to walk right on out there to where Jesus was, he would have walked back to the boat on the arm of Jesus victorious! These people, I have mentioned, all had the chance to fail their mission, opening the way for someone else to take their place in the tasks God had assigned to them. We ask for a sign, He gives us one, we ask for another one. Up close and personal example here: A young person, who had a major heartbreak, had prayed about the situation and, for a while, waited it out, but finally got tired of waiting and started on another path. As soon as they had really just given up, the whole situation changed and they were given the opportunity they had been waiting on. Their next words surprised and disappointed me, ” I’m afraid to take the chance, what if I get hurt again?” Let’s see, prayer for the situation to change, it changes, and then they are afraid to get out of the boat! Can anyone say faithless? As a young person I was so on fire for God and wanted the opportunity to witness to everyone. I carried my great big Dake Bible with me everywhere, hoping someone would ask to hear ANYthing from the Word I was prepared! One day I was sitting in a car that was parked facing Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta. There was a bus stop there on that corner. I saw a man fall to the ground and begin to shake violently, without thinking; I jumped out of the car, went and knelt over the man raising one hand to heaven. I said “God help this man!” very loudly. When I opened my eyes, I saw the bus had stopped and people were pouring out and they were staring..at ME! The man quit shaking and stood up. A policemen came and asked him his name, he answered, Alan Taylor. Wow, I was so happy, but as the people stared at me, I suddenly felt like Peter and my faith started to sink, ME, the fearless warrior, and yea a regular Joan de Arc! I didn’t take the opportunity to say anything to the people looking on just went and got in the car! I felt badly about that, but happy that my prayer was answered! Have you asked for a mission? Are you ready to answer “Here I am, send me”, if He calls? Listen, and answer, “Here am I!”
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