The best of goodbyes: The call of God and his will

The Apostle Paul was saying goodbye to friends when he wrote this: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

A little man, I imagine, talking to a scribe or writing himself with quill in a tired, aching, arthritis-filled hand is telling a group of people who would never again see him goodbye. Just saying, so long.

When I came to Christ, I mean really came to Christ and not attended church because my good Mama made me, I wanted more than anything else to find that will of God everyone talked about. Seventeen years have passed, and if I get up on the truthful side of the bed in the morning, I'm still seeking, searching, demanding, waiting on that will of God to present itself.

However, Paul, this little man I imagine, leads me there more than most.

He continued in what someone decided would be the fifth chapter of his letter to a church (it's the people not the building remember) in Thessalonica, which is just down the road from Kinder I think, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything."

I believe that more than most that is what we're called to do. Let the Spirit (capital, capital, capital) lead us. I'm a UNITED Methodist, which means I've let go of the Spirit's gifts as if they were indeed very, very hot, but truth is I long for the Spirit to lead me down the country pathway toward prophecy, toward, uh, Spirit language and such. But in the meantime, I praise Him in the storms of life and keep going.

Paul tells them (us, me) "Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through." Good versus evil? I'm just trying to get up, do my job (a Sean Payton reference in a religious column), and pray that God brings someone, anyone, one to Christ through me, by me, with me.

I lift my eyes unto the hills, and my help pours forth through Paul's words: "May your whole spirit (little s, little s), soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

And there I sit, again placated. I'm not all that sure what God's will is for me today, but I am sure, absolutely sure, that he is faithful and he will call me once again. Therein lies my joy, my prayer, my thanksgiving. And if that is God's will, I've found what once was lost. Again, and again, and again.