“I know dear, you keep bringing it up, but I just don’t know what to say anymore, we’ve gone through this a hundred times.” Kyle looked at his wife, then at the floor and then off into the nothing again, it was a look that Sharon was getting used to, well, not really. It was something that she was not used to from the husband she used to know, and to tell the truth, it was starting to frighten her. For almost a year now Kyle had been changing, very subtly at first, just minor things. He had always been energized to whatever task that he had placed in front of himself, but this was different, this one included her and left her out at the same time. She was trying to be supportive, but some days it was a strain, and this was one of those days.
Kyles thoughts went back to the small group of men that he met with during the week, an impromptu meeting at first, no one had planned it, it just sort of happened. None of them had any idea that it would turn into what it had become, but they all knew the same thing, there was no chance of it stopping, the consequences for each of them seemed worse if it did. There were six of them now, and they were drawn to each other like a magnet, going out of their ways to meet first for just for a few minutes each day, but over just the last year these times had increased to a level that was threatening their jobs.
The company was large, over five hundred people in just this one building, and so for any of them to have met in the first place was a miracle, but from two to six in just the last few months had no other meaning in their minds but that the Lord was drawing them together for a purpose, a purpose that was becoming clearer to them each day. Kyle looked up from the floor, glanced at his wife, and went to the closet to grab his coat, he turned around to kiss her goodbye for the day, but she had already headed into the bathroom. Sharon knew that she was second only behind God in her husband’s life, but lately Kyle felt as if he had been treating her as second best, and it was a feeling he did not like.
As he drove into work his thoughts turned to the wife of Moses, how she had called her husband a “bloody man,” and in fact had finally left him to go back to her father’s house. Kyle did not want this to happen, he loved his wife dearly, but he understood what Moses was feeling at those moments. “Help me to keep you first Lord, but not to make my wife feel like she is second best.” It was not the first time this prayer had passed his lips, and each time he seriously meant it, he truly did love her deeply, but this call was all encompassing and he knew it was not just a passing phase, he had asked to be used by the Lord, and he was being used.
As he reached his small cubicle, he found what he had expected, more paperwork and notes than the day before. Kyles boss had noticed his slipping performance, and this was his way of telling him about it. Some of the others in the small group had mentioned that the same thing was happening to them, but they had discussed the possibility of it a few weeks ago, and so it was expected. Kyle had just received a raise, but the money really was not an issue for him anymore, in fact when his boss had informed him at his yearly evaluation that there would be more in his paycheck next month, he had looked at him and repeated the verses in Timothy and Luke that said that a worker is worthy of his wages, and that he is to be content with them. His boss had just stared at him with a puzzled look, continued with the evaluation and then dismissed him.
Kyle had started to do only the most minimal work that was required of him, trying to make sure that the important items were accomplished as quickly as he could get them done, and then heading out of his cubicle to locate the other members of the group. There were several spots that they could meet, but it was after all only one building, and there were only so many places that were unoccupied on any given day. It was rare for all of them to be able to meet at the same time, and so today as he found them all huddled together in the forty-first floor break room with no one else around, he immediately gave God the glory with a resounding “Praise God” and was met with smiles and warm greetings.
After twenty minutes of intense and focused prayers, seeking the will of God and the knowledge of what He would have each of them to do, Jeff mentioned that nearly all of his time was being consumed with writing on the blog site he had set up, how he couldn’t seem to stop and didn’t want to. Daniel’s work at the mission was taking much time away from his family, and his wife was as Kyles was, beginning to become worried that he too was spending too much time away from the things of the world that she felt were more necessary. “I’m hearing the same thing from Janice, but the homeless men down by the riverfront are in real need, and some of them have actually come to Christ and are even staying around just to help with the others that are still lost.” “I’m getting the same response at home, Daniel, what started out as a calling to sit in the subway system on a bench and just read my Bible aloud has led to about twenty or more people standing around me just to hear me read, there are some rude words, but it’s a blessing I really can’t explain, and I definitely do not feel worthy of doing it.”
“We had better get back to the important stuff, or we’ll all get fired,” Chris said as they all laughed, got up and left each other with firm handshakes and warm embraces. “I need to tell you guys, I am thinking about quitting my job here,” Jeff said, and no one looked surprised, “I feel called to do more, and the job has become a place to come just so I can earn money, I know that we all need it, but it just doesn’t seem as important as it once was to me.” There were nods of agreement, none of them knew for sure what direction they were to take in this area, but they all felt the same way, something was coming, and though none of them wanted to admit it, they were all in hopes that it was the Lord Himself about to return for His church.
“We’ll try to meet again a couple of hours from now, whoever can be here, be here, and we’ll pray about it and anything else as He leads.” All six of them knew that they had been called, they didn’t know why He had called them, but they knew it was of the Lord, of that there was no doubt. They had each in their own way several months ago began to search truly for the Lord in their lives, to be open and honest about who they were in front of Him, and decided that how they were serving Him at that time was not really serving, it was time to be a follower of Jesus Christ, not just a church attender or an occasional Bible reader, it was time give Him their all.
“No one here wants to feel as if they have abandoned their family by quitting their job, or for any other reason, and none of us should quit until the Lord makes His path for each of us clearer.” Every one of them agreed with Daniel, and none of them had any intention of quitting until that time was made perfectly known by His will, but they all could feel something changing not only within themselves, but in the world that surrounded them.
As Jeff sat down in his familiar office chair, he took a moment to look around at the paperwork that was piling up on his desk and he realized that some of it probably should be done today, but that word transitory kept going through his mind, he just couldn’t see the office work as important as he once did. He stared at the picture of the wife that he loved dearly hanging by his computer screen, slid the paperwork over to the side, and began to write another letter on his website to his brothers and sisters in Christ, not knowing for sure the words that would come, but positive that he was being led by the Lord to write them.
