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Topic: Missionary (10/19/06)
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TITLE: "Musicianary" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Frank Salerni
10/19/06 -
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Q. OK…I know what a missionary is but what’s a musicianary?
A. A musician sent out by their church to do the work of the ministry.
Maybe it’s not an official word you’ll yet find in the dictionary, but certainly easy enough to understand. Let me take a minuet to elaborate.
I was just a musician, who is trying to obey God’s voice, and help a church with the music program, wasn’t I? This was the call. “Go and be a musicianary where I lead you.”
It really all started when I was coming back from a missionary visit to the beautiful country of Ireland. When God sends a person out to do His work you can never come back to the normality and security of what you’ve always known, without being radically changed. I remember praying on the plane about midway back home, “God, do you want me to prepare to go back to Ireland?” The answer that I received was not at all what I neither expected nor understood. “There is work to be done in your own backyard.” Little did I realize the next few years would provide me with awesome clarity?
Waiting for Gods timing will leave us often with wonders of weather His words will ever come to pass, but “…allowing patience to have it’s perfect work.” never fails.
After much prodding by the Holy Spirit our family moved. It was only about thirty miles from our current location, to a small city in Oregon. Even though local humor regarded this area as being, “The ends of the Earth,” I never imagined that “The Great Commission,” to “Go into all the world and Preach the Gospel,” was indeed so close to my own backyard! And I really didn’t want to go because my logic was in the way.
Well now, I guess this for Christians is where the rubber meets the road. Beside myself, I support a sizable family to include my wife and four daughters. I’ve learned (the hard way) never to accept my common sense over the voice of God.
As I obey the call of our Lord, in spite of that which may seem foolish to my own reasoning that states, “I can’t afford to do this God!” I must step out in faith. This is when we have the golden opportunity to be tested by God in our faith and to believe scripture like Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
I have come to understand that just because I believe in something, that doesn’t mean I am doing anything about it. In that respect I am no different than Satan! What do I mean by that? Satan may believe in the same doctrine you and I do as Christians but the real difference is when we act upon what we believe to be true! If you hear God calling you to come, or asking you to go, it’s only in the taking a step in ether direction that proves you believe, what you say you believe. That is faith. I guess if you think about it, “Go” is two-thirds of the name… “God.” You will by faith face the same challenges if you are so moved by the Spirit, but remember, delayed obedience… is disobedience.
What started out vague and uncertain is now in the past over the last ten years. Since that time, this musician with a heart for God has become the senior pastor of the church he went to serve. Do you think that this end would bring about the clarity spoken of in the start of this journey? No, I’m here to say that often, even with God’s leading, it is a path of vague and distant wonderings. The only thing for certain is that God is using the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. It is of that alone I have awesome clarity. I know because… I’m one of those foolish things!
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Just a few misplaced, comma/question marks-otherwise, great job!