Reflections on Watermelons

The early arrival of unexpected summer heat has brought back memories of summer days in Alamo, Georgia when a summer job meant a watermelon field.  It was work that started just before the sun got up and ended just after it went down.  Four or five dollars for the day in the sun tossing watermelons was the normal pay.   Even though a occasional watermelon got dropped and became a snack in the field, it was still hard unrelenting sweaty work that had you looking for an afternoon shower of rain. 

Some might figure that it was out there in the watermelon field that I heard the call to preach.  Others might say it was motivation to go to college.  The truth is that watermelons had nothing to do with either decision.  The call to preach came one night during a devotional at a business meeting of the Alamo Methodist Church and was accepted a little later in the evening in my bedroom at the parsonage.  Though already planned, college became a part of getting ready for going where the call called me.  Watermelons had nothing to with the call to preach.  God had everything to do with it.

I sometimes wonder how it happens and why it does not happen more.  Some churches have a history of being used to call many into full time ministry and in other churches it never seems to happen.  Maybe it has to do with churches being fertile ground and planting the seed that can be nurtured to growth through the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is important that the call to ministry is sounded by the church.  It is important not for the sake of institutional preservation, but because the call to preach, or the call to ministry connects people with what God is stirring up in their heart and what He needs doing in the world.