Ryan Downing
9/3/08

When I was asked to teach a Sunday school class, I was very excited at the prospects. I had seen other people I knew teach for a few years, build up a good collection of sermons, and just repeat those. All they had to do was show up every week and give a sermon they were familiar with. It sounded easy enough, but then my calling had to jump in the mix and mess up my plans.

I began teaching sermons every week and was waiting for the time when I could start reusing them. But every week, God would speak a fresh truth to my heart and I would bring it alive in class. This has not stopped for five years. I have taught over 150 sermons and written about that many devotionals in that time and the ideas keep coming.

Then, as I try to fall asleep at night, almost weekly God will wake me up with an idea for the group. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get away from making that group more than a typical Sunday school class because I was not called to make people normal, I was called to bring them meaning.

I cannot escape my calling as it continues to reveal to me new ways to make the things I do better, so that they can bring purpose to another person. My calling will never stop pushing me because that is who I was made to be.