This was a big weekend for us. I flew to Chicago for my friend Jerry’s funeral. Sam and I met briefly at the Delta check-in counter after I landed and while he was waiting to fly to Atlanta for a conference at the CDC.
Now that we’re both home, we had a chance for a life-changing conversation. Then we heard that they don’t need him to go to Liberia right now to work with the Ebola outbreak.
Remember that quote I shared a few weeks ago?
“Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” ― Frederick Buechner
I think it’s true.
But the world’s deep need is dangerous. The world is peopled with kidnappers like Boko haram, governments who force their people to flee in the jungle, and the children of war who think the solution to the war in their land is to shoot a pediatrician in Kabul. The world is full of scary things like MERS and Ebola and cholera. Sam’s and my deep gladness is to use our medical skills to meet those needs.
Our friends Jerry and Jan walked with open eyes to meet that need. The friends with whom I spent the weekend reminded me of my calling, and that—even while the danger is great—there is nothing better than saying “Yes” to Jesus, no matter where he leads us.
This weekend we made it to “yes” and then discovered that Jesus’ word today is “Stay.” So yes to that, too. I pray that we will be ready again when the word is “Go.”
Learning As We Go 