Finding My Voice

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.  Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:1-2

Parker Palmer wrote a small book[1]  that can have a large impact on making sense of an ordinary person’s life, and which can be used in extraordinary ways by God.  This happens when one listens carefully and obeys with trust in He Who gives graciously.  The book’s theme is that one of life’s main goals is to reject merely reflecting what seems rather important to others, or living what others seem to expect/demand from you, but rather to find your voice, your voca, the Latin term from which English derives the word “vocation” not just a career; rather our life’s purpose.  Letting one’s voice speak what our life’s purpose is/has been/will be is (according to Palmer) the truest expression of responding to that upward-call of being created in the image of He Who always is, always was, and always shall be.

Throughout my life I have despised my own personal tendency towards the “chameleon” safe way of fitting-in with the company with which I find myself.  As an introvert, it did not take long in life to discover it is easier to disappear into the wallpaper pattern that way, inoffensive, unimpeachable, and embarrass-proof to all minds, except He Who created me to be unique, useful, and truthful.  Parker Palmer’s book took form over a decade as essays delivered to various groups of graduating students as well as educational publications.  What I discovered in this short book helped push me to shed the chameleon skin for a set of wings – to let my voice finally speak what my inner-held thoughts had been ruminating for so long.  And those thoughts are the basis for any believer of living the life for which we are all created.  Fleshing-out Paul’s words to the Roman church, we are all, by the mercies of the living God, to NOT be conformed to this world’s systems, but to be transformed, with the goal of being recreated in the image of Jesus Christ, by the renewing of our minds, presenting mind, body, and soul to God in response to that calling (or voca) offering a reasonable service to God.  That’s a mouthful, but hang with me for a few moments.

An Inkling to the Voca

My first clue that “speaking up” would be a calling on my life happened in a canoe with Mr. Redding, who was a member of our church.  It was 1960, and our Pastor, along with a couple of brave church members like Mr. Redding, took a dozen of us young teen boys on a canoeing/camping trip through the Adirondack mountains for ten days.  Mr. Redding was my canoe buddy that day, and it was serenely quiet as we paddled along the edge of a calm pond, with water shimmering, glass-like, not a ripple, except for what our paddles stirred as we gently stroked our way along.  Finally, Mr. Redding broke the peaceful reverie.  “What do think a man ought to do if he wanted to quit smoking?”  Honestly, that a man with children my age should ask a 13-year-old boy for spiritual advice hit me like a ton of bricks.  I gave him an answer, kind of churchy, religious, safe:  “I guess you should commit to prayer and tell God you can’t stand it anymore; you want to be a better witness.”  Mr. Redding nodded from the front of the canoe and said “Right!”  And we paddled on quietly, both of us wondering what just took place.

Some years later I found out from my parents that when we all got back home Mr. Redding had told them, “I think you’ve got a preacher on your hands.”  At the time I didn’t want to hear that.  However, over the next few decades it became clearer that those words were the first “confirmation” to me, since I had come to faith in Jesus 5 years prior, that the drawing of God’s Spirit was so real, and it was pointing towards pastoral ministry.  It became clear to me that pastoral ministry was in the local church, not leading a Wesley-ish movement or Graham-ish crusades, but a local parish ministry of helping and proclaiming.

A Dilemma – of Sorts

Letting the voca speak and living a chameleon existence are two very different pathways.  The chameleon gets along with everyone, because he offends nobody, disagrees with no one, and just fits-in, untroubling, and untroubled.  That existence often demands playing loose with truth, while the other means speaking, living, and moving with that voice from within, and responding to that voice from above, prophetic/powerful, sometimes troublemaking, often comforting, always pursuing and proclaiming truth.  In the words of a preacher I once knew and admired, there is no wrong way to do right, and no right way to do wrong.  You can live a comfortable life if you don’t offend other people, but your insides will lie to you about the so-called comfort of that life.  On the other hand, without a commitment to truth, the first lie is to God who calls us to live in truth.  And when you value your comfort above God’s command to be truth-filled, you’ve just run afoul of the first commandment, to not put anything in higher priority than Almighty God.[2]

So, the dilemma in which I found myself was that it is much less complicated to always demand truth from myself, but it is uncomfortable.  I had to make a choice between the chameleon’s comfort, and God’s calling.

For You Today

So, how are you doing with that truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth thing?  Sorry, did I just put you on the witness stand?  Well, there is a judge, you know.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images: Hugo Ataide from Pixabay  Unless noted, Scripture from Christian Standard Bible^©

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[1] Parker J. Palmer, (San Francisco, Josey-Bass 2000)

[2] Do not have other gods besides me.  Exodus 20:3

Hard Times

 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord.  But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”  “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked.  “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”  “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.   And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.  Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you.  Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”  So she did as she was told.  Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.  Soon every container was full to the brim!  “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.  “There aren’t any more!” he told her.  And then the olive oil stopped flowing.  When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”  2 Kings 4:1-7

Many people I’ve known have lived through some tough times.  The widow who came to Elisha was down to family facing indentured slavery because they couldn’t pay their debts.  There were no reserves, bank accounts, or 401K from which to draw.  She went to Elisha and told her tale of woe.  And, it’s Elisha’s question that has always intrigued me:  …what do you have in the house?  The woman’s answer was one of those “duh” moments…no food, just a little cooking oil.  Had I been Elisha I’d have been stumped.  A small flask of cooking oil won’t pay off debts that calls for debtor’s prison.  But Elisha wasn’t stumped.  He told the woman to start pouring-out that oil.  And it didn’t stop until they had no more room to store any more.  Every debt was paid…and some oil left over to boot.

Isn’t it curious how some miracles are connected with what is already available to us? 

     ·       The woman had only a little oil left.  Elisha’s mentor, Elijah, had also met a poor       woman[1] who was down to her last meal.  Same result – God’s multiplication of the flour barrel’s contents. 

     ·       Jesus fed 5,000 men and their families from a basket with just a small boy’s lunchbox.[2] 

     ·       Ten lepers came to Jesus with less than nothing, so they simply brought themselves.  Jesus took the diseased skin they possessed and turned them into new people.[3] 

     ·       When the wedding at Cana had run out of wine, Jesus took the water they did have and the joy of the day was not only complete, it was the best ever.[4]

Sometimes, when we shake our heads in amazement over the miracles, we are forgetting the fact that the God who created everything is still there, still the same, and still knows how to provide for every need we face.

For You Today

If you’re facing some hard times, remember that you have something God will use to turn your world right-side-up!  Every person in scripture who had a miracle change their lives just needed to listen and act on what God was saying.  Remember, Jesus took the pain of scourging that took him to the brink of death, mocking that was undeserved and crushing, a cross, and a borrowed grave…not the kind of inventory anyone would like to count on for retirement…and he turned that less-than-nothing of resources into the salvation of souls for anyone who would trust in Him.  If your hard times have never included trusting Jesus…that’s the first miracle your life needs.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] 1 Kings 17:8-24

[2] Matthew 14:13-18

[3] Luke 17:11-17

[4] John 2:1-11

When the Going Gets a Little Rocky

 

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Think back on those early days when you first learned about  Christ.  Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.  Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.  You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.  So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord.  Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will.  Then you will receive all that he has promised.  

Hebrews 10:32-36

The writer of this message to the Hebrews[1] reminds them how difficult things were when they first came to the saving knowledge of Christ.  They found out the meaning of persecution and hardship through public humiliation, beatings, jail time, and having all their possessions confiscated by the government for following Jesus.  That’s a wee bit eye-opening for those of us who think tough times are when we’re forced to downgrade from a Mercedes to a Ford.

But the Apostle encourages them to not abandon the eternal rewards awaiting them in glory for a little bit of comfort in the here and now.  How misguided it would be, even if you must walk, to throw away your keys and title to the Rolls Royce awaiting you at the end of a little trouble on the rocky road.  Hard times are relative; a little suffering now is worth it all for the glory that never fades away.

One thing the apostle doesn’t forget in his encouragement is telling his readers how to get through the rocky times…develop patient endurance to do God’s will.  

For You Today

Patient endurance isn’t a matter of toughing-it all on your own; rather it is learning “patiently” to wait on God’s gift of what you need on the inside to continue in obedience to His will.  For any of us that is becoming as the Roman official who begged Jesus to heal his son…beginning with prayer that owns the trouble we have with faith to endure:  I believe…help me in my doubting.[2]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this theme see I Believe in Me - Nov 23, 2018

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[1] Many scholars attribute authorship to Apostle Paul

[2] Mark 9:24