Here I Am

            A few years ago, I received a completely unexpected e-mail.  A high school for missionaries’ children in the Philippines needed an English teacher for a semester to fill in for someone on leave.  I liked to travel and had done volunteer mission work before, but this was not a good time for me.  I had many fall craft shows scheduled, I was planning to enter the county fairs for the first time in a while, and my mother was about to have rotator cuff surgery; and she was in her late 70’s. I felt sure someone else would respond to them.

            Several weeks later, after more email pleas, I emailed the high school thoroughly expecting them to reply they had already found someone. I was mistaken. They wanted me to come. Apparently, they'd found my name in a database of teachers from where I'd volunteered for a building trip to Guatemala with a Wycliffe group. One of the trip's goals was to explore where we might fit in the mission field. Most likely, I had been tagged as a teacher.

           But, my mother still needed to have surgery, and I'm an only child. She had an appointment for a second opinion that week. The doctor and she decided not to do the surgery.  I began to wonder if I was supposed to go. And to top this off, the series of lessons I was teaching in my adult Sunday school class revolved around the theme, “Here I am, Lord; send me.”

            I decided to check into what I would need if I went—a work visa from the Filipino Embassy in Washington, which usually took six weeks or more; a birth certificate (I knew I had mine, but it was buried in a box somewhere and would be impossible to find); and a physical with lung x-ray.  Well, that did it!  It would take at least six months to get an appointment for a physical with my doctor.  But, I would call, just to be sure. The appointment nurse said she had just had a cancellation, and could I come tomorrow at 3:00?  Wow! Now I knew I felt the hand of God.

            With a sincere prayer, I waded through my storage room and put my hand on my birth certificate within five minutes.  Double wow!

            I quickly filled out the paperwork and mailed it off to the Filipino embassy. The visa came back in a week. Triple wow!

            I left my craft booth costs to be counted off income tax, set up my finances to pretty much take care of themselves, put my phone on vacation, and I was on my way to the Philippines about three weeks after I had first contacted them. Never underestimate God!

           There are at least four main incidents in the Bible where the answer was "Here Am I, Lord." Abraham said this when the angel called out to him to stay his hand from stabbing his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice (see Genesis 22:11). Moses said something similar when he heard the voice at the burning bush, although he hesitated when he heard that God wanted him to return to Egypt (see Exodus 3:4). Samuel said it to Eli, and then when he realized God called him, he was willing to do whatever asked (see 1Samuel 3:4-10). Then, Ananias answered in this way when the Lord told him to go to Saul so the eyes of this man who had once persecuted Christians could see again (see Acts 9:20-21).

           As in Isaiah 6:8, this is the correct answer when God calls us, and he does call us. Our answer should always be, "Here I am; send me." There's no greater feeling than to be doing what God wants, to be in His will. As in the call to the Philippines, I've learned to answer, "Yes, Lord."

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