The book of Hebrews tells us that by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to leave his homeland. Remember, he was in his eighties when he and Sarah first set out. They left not knowing exactly where they were going — only that God was nudging them, prompting them, calling them forward.

This pattern of being called and sent runs all through scripture. We are called to step out in faith. We are called to do the next right thing. We are called to follow Christ — and we don't always know where that journey will take us.

I think about a time when I lived outside the country. At the end of my first week, I asked a neighbor when the trash pickup would happen. Seems like a fair question, right? He looked at me like I was crazy. "Nobody here is coming to pick up your garbage." He took the bag right out of my hand, walked it over to the edge of a ravine, wound up, and flung it over. I looked down and there was trash everywhere. My heart just hurt. Later he informed me that I could burn the paper. The chickens would eat the food scraps. "But the plastic," he said, "you're on your own."

Over time I also learned to do laundry by hand. I became pretty adept at water conservation because we so frequently had none. And I taught students who often didn't have enough to eat. My eyes were opened to the hunger and poverty of the world in ways I had never experienced. I didn't think about it this way at the time, but I was on a pilgrimage — one that opened my heart to human suffering.

We often think of calling in terms of vocation, and in one sense it can be. But over the course of a lifetime there are many callings, many journeys, many pilgrimages on which to embark. And plenty of them are more spiritual than physical. Perhaps you are being called to go to a deeper place in your faith. Or to heal something that has hardened or been wounded within you. Or to engage the world in some new way — to grow, to serve, to give in response to what God has placed on your heart.

I didn't know what that time living abroad would do to me. I only knew I was supposed to go. Looking back, it was one of the most formative pilgrimages of my life — not because of where it took me geographically, but because of where it took me inside. That is often how it is with God's callings. You think you're going somewhere. And you are. But the deeper journey is always within.

The question worth sitting with today is simply this: where is God nudging you? It may be toward a person, a practice, a conversation you've been avoiding, or a wound that needs tending. Whatever it is — be open. The God who called Abraham and Sara is still calling.

Prayer: We thank you, O God, for your calling on our lives. Grant us dreams and longings that are in harmony with your dreams and longings for us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

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