I guess I’ve been too tricky for my own good linking the file with the full text to the word cloud picture, so I’m going to start also putting a hard link to the text here –MS Word Link
Wanting to be called or to feel like someone has a job for you is an almost universal desire. Thomas the Tank engine is my son’s favorite toy/book. The original books were written some time ago by an Anglican minister. When you read those early books or see the early cartoons the main virtue being taught is interesting. The highest value for Thomas, given by Sir Topham Hatt, is to “be a really useful engine.” Men fall into that thinking more than women do – basing their entire self-worth on society’s definition of being useful. That requires a sense of call. Someone finds this useful. We are constantly looking for that Sir Topham Hatt character to contact us and affirm us.
The trick is sorting the true call from the all the things that might just be useful. In the Sermon I used the example of SETI. People desperately looking for that affirmation and sometimes salvation from contact from the stars. The people in SETI maintain an almost desperate hope that someone is calling them, but they just need to look in the right place.
We so want that contact and we often look so hard that we overlook our true calling. God has called us in Jesus Christ. It does not depend upon our skills or abilities. God takes the action. God has made first contact. And he does have something useful for you, tell someone else what Jesus has done for us.