Answering the call

^" As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." Matthew 9:9

Can you imagine?!!  Here you are sitting at your desk and you are instructed, by the one they call the Messiah, to follow him?  He didn't say tie up your affairs, say goodbye to your friends and then come follow me.  He meant now.  Leaving everything behind.

More than any other disciple, Matthew knew what it would cost him to follow Jesus.  He didn't hesitate.  He left his job guaranteeing lifelong unemployment should he want to return.  The other disciples could always go back to fishing but there was no turning back for Matthew. 

He gave up his old life (house, money, social stature, etc.) for a new uncertain one...  only knowing that he had to follow Jesus.  For a despised tax collector, he was now accepted.  The skills he had acquired to do his job as a tax collector had actually prepared him for his new job.  Jesus gave him a new purpose for all he had learned.  The only thing Matthew took from his old life was his pen.  From the beginning, God made him a record-keeper.  Answering the call to follow Jesus allowed him to put his skills to the finest work. 

This shows that, from the beginning, we are all God's work in progress.  He gives us skills and abilities long before we know how to use them.  When we trust him with what he has given us, that's when we shine.  Matthew couldn't have known that God would use the very skills he had sharpened as a tax collector to record the greatest story ever told!  God has that same purpose for all of us. To use the skills, talents and gifts He gave us to "follow him". 

Looking back on my life now, I see how God worked in my life, just as he did in Matthew's, Moses, Abraham's.... and the list goes on.  It's like putting together a puzzle when you can only see the middle. Before my purpose today, I was born destined to run and fight.  I was born with no platelets (a very uncommon condition at that time) and very tiny.  My father, who was in medical school, had a feeling something wasn't right and instructed my mother to have me at the University of Columbia, a teaching hospital and cutting edge in knowledge.  I fought from the moment I was born.  They took me home and nicknamed me "Screaming Mimi".  From the beginning, I was born to shout!!

My father was a runner, running 50-60 miles a week long before marathons and long distance running were popular.  He bought us kids mopeds so we could ride alongside him while he ran and keep him company.  I just assumed this was normal and it became a way of life for me as I grew older.  Long story short, when I gave my life to God, I discovered running was a skill He gave me to use (for Him).  He has brought my church, my pastor, TEAM413 and countless races, people and experiences into my life making me the person I am today.

It's not always easy but I choose to follow Christ no matter the cost.  Have you heard Jesus saying to you, "Follow me"?  What has been your response?