My Turning Point part III

If you did not read Tuesday and Wednesday's blog, go back and catch up. This is the conclusion of My Turning Point.

I did not know then how I would serve him, I just knew I would. During my Junior High School years, I planned to play off-side guard for the Boston Celtics and help guide them to World Championships. I would use the fame and fortune of stardom to help people in the name of God. By the end of my Sophomore year of High School I became aware that colleges were not looking for average skill level players. Add to that fact that a driver's license and a 1967 Mercury Comet that needed fuel and a few repairs required income, so basketball became a PE and backyard sport and I stopped playing on a team after that season. Now that hoop dreams were just that – dreams, I began to find enjoyment in biological sciences.

I began thinking back to the care I received in the hospital. I realized I could serve God as a Pediatrician, I might even make a little money too! I soaked up the information we learned in Anatomy and Physiology. My lab partner, who would be class Valedictorian wanted to be a Brain Surgeon (he is by the way), I was going to be a Pediatrician, and we fed off each other all year. Yet, I had concerns. All the schooling and the long hours of a medical doctor might interfere with regularly assembling with a congregation and may keep me too busy to serve the God the way I wanted too.

Then my English and American Literature teachers began placing a heavy challenge on us. They started making us write – every week! We had to expound poetry, review novels, write research papers, compose reactions to the papers of other students, and write about current events. This may not seem pivotal, but when career day came our guidance counselors suggested that we look at what we wrote about and what we enjoy reading about to help us determine what we might want to do with our lives. Somehow, every other paper I wrote brought in a spiritual point, even a paper on Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. My English teacher gave me the highest marks she could on my research paper entitled, “The Existence of God.” There was a theme evident in my writing.

God kept showing through. Like Jeremiah who said, “If I say, 'I will not mention Him, or speak anymore in His name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot,” (Jer 20:9 – ESV), I could not help but mention the God who delivered me. I still cannot. Could I serve God as a Pediatrician? Yes! But not full time. Not the way I felt he deserves from me. I knew I could have a greater impact for God by using my gift of communication. I wanted to use my talents to point people to Him and his saving power (Rom 1:16). By my Senior year, I determined to preach. That is how I could serve God to the best of my ability, I was fulfilling a promise made a decade earlier. I am still trying to keep my promise.

What about you? Here is something for you to think about: How will you use the events and opportunities in your life for God? (cf. Eph 5:15-16; Col 4:5).

Have a great day! Thanks for letting me share!
Scott