-Charlie Hall
These words hit me somewhere on interstate 10 between Pheonix and Los Angeles as I was driving to college from Texas to California and asking myself the question, "why is God always calling me somewhere?" It seems that just about the time I get comfortable where he previously called me and start enjoying myself a bit, he calls me to something new, something different. A year earlier I had felt that God was opening doors and leading me, or calling me if you will, to tansfer from Texas A&M to a small Christian college in Santa Barbara named Westmont. Now he was doing it again - I was heading back because he had called me there. As I drove I became aware of the variety of emotions that I was filling. There was some excitement and eagerness but not much. More than anything I was dissapointed and defient; I didn't want to leave behind summer, Hannah and family for a place that was still new and uncomfortable at times. That's when the words from the song above popped into my head and the Lord spoke mightly to me through the truth in these words. I understood exactly why God had called me to California, to a small Christian school, to live in a house with 5 other guys and to lead my basketball team as a captain. The more I thought about Charlie Hall's words, the more I wanted them to be true in my life. Only by following the Lord's calling, by being put in new and challenging cicumstances can we have the opportunity to be tested and grow in our faith and knowledge of the Lord. Only by being tested, by being put through the fire can we be refined and grow to know our Lord Jesus more. The being sent out, the going away, the stuggles of life are all so important not because of what they do for us, but when they do in us.
I also realized that only by going out, by following the calling of God can we make his name known. If we always stayed where we were comfortable then we wouldn't have the chance to share God with others and we would denying others the chance to hear about the greatest thing they could ever be told - of the saving and freeing love of Jesus Christ. In a nutshell, I realized that God had called me out to California to make me more into the man he wanted me to be and to make his name known. Now I was starting to get excited!
In the past week I have seen both of these - the knowing Jesus more and the making him known come into play big time in my life.
I have had conversations with roommates that have challenged me to seek out answeres to hard spiritual questions and I have been put in situations that have stretched me and challenged my faith. Through the last week I have grown tremendously in my walk with the Lord and can say without a doubt that I am knowing him more everyday.
The other day I picked up one of the freshman players and we went to run some errands. In the few hours we were together I had the chance to share my faith with him and ask him if Christ was part of his life. It turns out that he is a new Christian and is in need of somebody in his life to encourage him and keep him accountable. I was blown away that in the first week of school God had already shown me one of the reasons he had called me here. The very next day I was able to spend some time with my closest spiritual brother on the team after we finished one of our workouts. I was encouraged by his spirit and the light of the Lord in his life and I was able to challenge him to be a better leader so that he can possibly lead the team next year as a senior. Literally every day the Lord seems to be working. Praise God!
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