Not a Closet Prophet

As the summer of '08 winds down (our local schools start tomorrow) there is no question what was the season's most significant movement in our church. In the course of several weeks, traveling separate paths, three of our young people surrendered to ministry. Each came forward with confidence and deep conviction.

This week I invited the three of them to lunch to check in on how they are doing, wondering if the initial excitement of responding to their call had worn off any. It had not! (I think they were somewhat surprised and offended that I would even ask.) The three happen to each be ninth graders and they head into their first year of highschool with seminary in their minds. (When I entered ninth grade I think I had lunch on my mind.) I would invite you to pray for Cameron, Erica and Adam as you read this.

I must admit that one of the great graces of all this is that one of the three is my son. At lunch, I challenged the trio to study some of the "call" passages in the Bible for the next time we got together. That evening, my son was so excited to share with me that he had learned from Samuel's call. He was impressed by 1 Samuel 3:20 -- "All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD."

My son said, "Samuel was no closet prophet....I want to be that guy!"

This week, I mark fifteen years of ordained pastoral ministry. Son, I want to be that guy too.