Not a Weather Man

When I was an about to graduate from high school teenager, I went into my bedroom after a church business meeting known back then as Quarterly Conference and gave my life to Jesus.  There had been many more spiritual settings which had provided opportunities for such a commitment, but none of them ever became the real thing.  I knew that night as I kneeled by my bed that something stickable was happening.  I had not anticipated an encounter with Jesus when the day started, but as it ended, I knew life would never be the same. 

 

I suppose I had flirted with giving my life to Jesus long enough that I was not necessarily surprised that the moment came.  What did surprise me was the Part II God revealed to me that night there in the Alamo Methodist parsonage.  Part II was a call to preach.  A call to preach was not in my plans.  At the time I was infatuated with becoming a meteorologist, a fancy name for a weather man, but such was not to be.  Spending my teenage years in a parsonage gives an insider view of the church and by the time I reached that night, I had long ago decided becoming a preacher was not for me.

Of course, God was not caught up in my weather man ambitions.  He had something else in mind.  I have never really completely understood why He called me to preach.  I was a shy introvert who was not filled with a strong sense of confidence.  I was most comfortable when I was alone in my room operating my ham radio equipment.  So, God looked at the raw stuff of my life and figured I was preacher material.  He was the only one who would have figured such to be true.  Nonetheless, He called me to preach that night and I kicked and hollered about it for the next six months, but I finally came to the moment of saying, "Yes."  I sometimes wonder how good a preacher I have been, but I reckon I would have been an even worse weather man.