The Call of Life
Delivered 3/8/2009 on John 11:38-53; 12:9-11 by Carter Sanger
When I was in the first grade, one day at school I got in trouble for talking in class. I got in trouble along with my friend and two girls in the class. We had to stay in during recess and clean the chalkboards. We stayed while everyone else left the room – including the teacher. Without anyone in there we found that the erasers were full of chalk dust and by banging them together, we could make quite a chalk cloud. We did that for a while. But then we found if you hit something else it did the same thing, and if you hit another person you could envelope them in the cloud. So my friend and I proceeded to take aim at the girls in the classroom. As we were having fun at the girls expense one of the bullies in our class showed up. I guess he had gotten in trouble too. He didn’t like what we were doing to the girls and let us have it. Only he didn’t just let us have it verbally, he let us have it in ways that went far beyond what we had been doing to each other and the girls. He may have meant well, but he crossed over the line. As you might imagine this didn’t end well. I wound up in the principal’s office. I was hurt. Ashamed. Embarrassed. That office was the last place I wanted to be. When I heard my mother’s voice calling me through the door, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It was the sweetest music in the world! I wanted to put that event behind me and her call was the thing that allowed it.
When Jesus calls you, it has the same affect. There is no sweeter sound in the world. Because Jesus calls, we come. And we testify to the power of Christ.
