I'd Rather Have Jesus

One day when, as a young man, George Beverly Shea was struggling to find his way in the world.  At a loss for direction, he sat down at the piano.  There, he found a poem that touched his heart.  Shea’s mother, knowing he was searching, had left the poem on the family piano, hoping he would find it and be touched by its words. He did. He was. Within minutes, he was singing it to a tune he composed on the spot. As he read the poem over and over, he was moved to put his emotions to melody.  His mother overheard him singing and asked him to sing it for church the next Sunday.  At the time, he was intending a career in popular music, but he sang the hymn for his mother, which led, eventually, to an opportunity to work with Billy Graham’s evangelistic team.   For the next seven plus decades, Shea lifted his voice, and that hymn, in praise to millions the world over. 

I’ve been thinking about what it takes to find your passion, your calling. The key, I think is listening.  And letting go. Listening for God to reveal His plan to you and letting go of your own plans and expectations.  A number of years ago, we had a Week of Prayer speaker at the academy I worked at (not TAA).  The young man, a former student of mine who was now CEO of a luxury yacht-making company, had a passion for making a difference and encouraging others to do the same.  A graduate of the first school I ever taught at, he proved to be a humble and wonderful ambassador for Jesus.  In fact, he shook our thinking up about “finding your calling” when he told the students the second morning that they didn’t need to wait until sometime in the future to serve God. “God needs you now,” he said. “He can use you right now, where you are. There are so many opportunities for you to serve if you will ask Him to show you what they are.”

I thought of it again when I heard George Beverly Shea recount (on a YouTube documentary) the story of how his career as a gospel singer got started. He simply let the Spirit move him, and let God use him right then and there.  The Week of Prayer speaker talked about how we, as Christians, are all called to lead. “But,” he said, “in order for God to use you, you have to be open in your heart. He puts you eye-to-eye with a need, but you must be ready, willing, and able to serve when the time comes.”  That’s exactly what Shea did when read that poem on the piano.

In 2005, my friend was called on to put his boat-building skills to use for God in an unusual way when he was asked to design a floating church for the Adventist community that lives on the floating islands of Lake Titicaca high in the Andes Mountains of Peru.  He and his company craftsmen and women volunteered their time to design and then build a floating church that was also a boat that could navigate the lake waters from island to island to serve the natives living there.   Several of workers, including my friend and his family, put their lives and careers on hold to travel to Peru to see the project through to the end, a project that took more weeks than they’d planned on (it turned out to be quite an engineering feat).  “God can do the extra-ordinary with the ordinary,” he told us, “but we must be willing, more willing to make a difference than to be indifferent.” 

How about you? Are you ready to serve God where you are? Are you willing to do what He needs you to do? Are you able to walk away from the material things in front of you and say...

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand 

Chorus:
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.
I'd rather be true to His holy name [Chorus]

He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He's all that my hungering spirit needs.
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead [Chorus]