Responding to God's call.

From today's reading:  Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it."  So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"  He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?"  Acts 8:29-31

I love this reading.  I like the idea of Philip being led by the Spirit and listening to the Spirit and responding.  This is typical of the kind of thing that happens to us occasionally; when we are somewhere and suddenly we feel called to reach out to someone...  

I remember one Thanksgiving day when I had finished the 10 AM service in Huntsville and we were driving down to Alvin.  We stopped at Luby's in the Woodlands to grab a turkey dinner and there was behind us a woman by herself.  On impulse I invited her to join us at our table.  We had a pleasant lunch and learned a little about the woman.  I don't know that the conversation had any lasting effect on her, but I really felt that God had called us to reach out and that he used the experience to his benefit.

Philip was asleep when God called him to "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza..."  This is a reminder that we are to hold ourselves ready to respond whenever God calls us to reach out - regardless of the circumstances or the location.  Lord, help me to respond in faithfulness to your call.  Amen.