CALLING - (noun) (1) That place in life that fits you like a glove; (2) The sweet spot of life.

Confession time.  Just the other day, my wife asks me if I ever think about quitting.  At the time, the church problem of the day had risen, and it had gotten to her.  My answer was, “Yeah, I think about quitting - sometimes.”  The truth is that in this line of work - church planting - “sometimes” happens pretty often.

Sometimes people quit.  Sometimes nobody shows up.  Sometimes plans fail.  Sometimes I fail to live up to the expectations.  Sometimes I get discouraged.  Sometimes … 

And when you add up all of the “sometimes,” you realize that “sometimes” is a lot of the times.  You realize what a roller coaster you’re on.  If I’m being honest, the highs are incredible … and the lows, the “sometimes” suck.  If I’m being honest, the lows affect me.  Of course they do!  I’m human.  I, the pastor, get discouraged.

The question that my wife asked me got me to thinking, “Why do I keep coming back?  What keeps me here?”  

It’s CALLING.  I know that the highs of the roller coaster aren’t why I do this.  I know that the lows of the roller coaster won’t keep me from doing this. I know that THIS is the sweet spot of my life.  I know that if I quit THIS, the lows of the roller coaster are nothing compared to a life without calling.  I’d be like Jeremiah.  My insides would be on fire.  I’d be miserable.

That great philosopher Steven Curtis Chapman once said, “We will abandon it all for the sake of the call.  No other reason at all.  Than the sake of the call.  Holy.  Devoted.  To live and to die.  For the sake of the call.”

So, I wonder.  I wonder if you are in your calling.  (And yes, YOU absolutely have a calling.)  Are you doing that thing that you won’t quit no matter what?  Are you in the sweet spot?