Are You Willing? (part 1)

I have found myself thinking about this question a lot recently. It isn’t the first time I have wrestled with this question, though.

It was the summer of 2021. My family had just moved from central-Kentucky to northern-Indiana. I found myself devouring autobiographies of missionaries and people I now consider as mentors and personal heroes of the faith. Which I must warn you. If you want to live a comfortable and safe life, don’t pick up any of the books I am about to share with you. Seriously. Don’t do it.

I was moved by the stories of Jim Elliot in Shadow of the Almighty, Bruce Olson in Bruchko, Floyd McClung in Living on the Devil’s Doorstep, Brother Andrew in God’s Smuggler, Don Richardson in Peace Child, Caleb Bislow in Dangerous, Bilquis Sheikh in I Dared to Call Him Father, and many more. I was challenged by their faith and moved by their willingness to serve God in what seemed like radical ways. As I read their stories, I could not shake this question the Holy Spirit kept pressing on my heart.

“Are you willing?”

Am I willing to what? I wasn’t entirely sure what God was asking me to do. At the time, there was no call to missions on my life. That was to come a year and several months later. So, what was He asking of me? Turns out, I’m not sure He was asking anything specific of me in that moment. In fact, I don’t think the question was meant to spark any action… yet.

Five years earlier, I was working for a public record research firm in Michigan. I was training to become a manager. I wasn’t necessarily working for a Fortune 500 company, earning a six-figure salary, or even close to the top of the, so-called, ladder of success. However, I was working a comfortable job. I was liked by the leaders of the company. I was being invested in as a young leader with a lot of potential. I was on a track to financial and career success. Then God came knocking on the door of my heart with a call to ministry. Well, the call had actually come several years earlier. I just wasn’t willing yet to trust it to Him. But was I willing now?

Turns out I was willing. Your obedience will prove your willingness. I quit my job, I packed my things, and I moved to Kentucky without a single clue as to what the heck I was doing. I was inadequate. I was scared. I was everything except comfortable. But I was following His call. And that was what mattered most. I may have been willing to quit my job and go to seminary, but I definitely wasn’t willing to do much more than that. I remember preparing to go to seminary and people would ask me, “Eric, what do you feel called to?” Looking back, my response was laughable. I would say, “I’m not really sure, but I know I’m not called to missions.”

That was almost eight years ago now. It is amazing what God will do with a life that is simply willing.

What God was asking me in 2016 was, “Eric, are you willing to trust me with your future?”

What God was asking me in 2021 was, “Eric, are you willing to do whatever, go wherever, or say whatever? No matter the cost?”

What God continues to ask of me today is, “Eric, are you still willing?”

The answer in 2016 was yes.

The answer in 2021 was yes.

The answer today is still yes.

So, let me ask you the same question. Better yet, maybe God is asking you the same question today.

“Are you willing?”