I've Been Sent

Mark 6:7-11 And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. And if anyplace will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.” 


I have felt sent. Even long before I started seminary, I felt sent. When I truly turned to jesus with my life I knew life was never going to be the same again. I had no idea where I was going or what I would be doing, but I knew I was being sent to a different life, and I needed to help other people find a new life as well. In one sense I was scared to death to think about what that might mean, but at the same time I was at peace inside and trusted that God would show me the way.


When you read the accounts in the Bible of situations like the one today, it is easy to miss that the twelve each had a choice. They were free to say no thanks not me thank you. I know I recognized that I had a choice and in fact I took baby steps some times when God was asking for bold leaps. I did however find a faithful God at the end of every baby step, showing me a better more meaningful life. It was not that I found easy street for often I felt over my head . I was in that day by day following the request of my Lord as best I could with my limited courage and discovered that Jesus never let me down. If He asked me to speak the words were aways there. If He asked me to lead, something I always swore I would never do, He was always there. Every time I moved to do what I sensed he wanted from em I was blessed by a faithful God. I know I could at any time have said no thanks, but bit by bit God convinced me that watching God's grace spread throughout the world was my life. I might be a school teacher, or a camp director, or a husband and father, but my number one purpose was to love God and my neighbor. It's not that everyone has responded to God the way i would want, some in my own family choose a different path, I just know I have been sent and the going has always been good.