When God Calls Your Name

 For 14 years we were the owners of a tri-color Pembroke Corgi named Buddy.  We adopted him from Corgi Rescue, a stray picked up on the streets.  They told us his name was Tex.  But, when we got home, he told us his name was Buddy. His story is available on Amazon, Buddy The Floppy Ear Corgi, “just the way he told it to me.”  Unfortunately dogs don’t live as long as we do and we had to “lay him down” a few years ago.

 He knew his name. Whatever he was doing, whether napping (one of his favorite pass times) or checking out “pee mail” on a bush.  When I called his name his head jerked up with ears alert and he came.  

 Sometimes he came when I first called him, running at top speed, which was not all that fast.  Sometimes he loitered around, distracted by new smells and sounds. So I called him again.  Occasionally I had to clap my hands.  Sometimes he came at a very slow walk, grudgingly. But he eventually came when I called.

 It seems to me that I am a lot like that with God.  There are times when I sense God’s call, and I come running. But there are other times when I am distracted by other interests, worries and concerns.  I don’t listen for his voice as I should, and I don’t come as quickly as I should.  Sometimes I come grudgingly.

 When I was a child my parents took me to church.  At the end of every service the church offered an “invitation.”   We all stood and sang a song while the preacher waited at the front to talk with anyone who wanted to make a decision for Christ.  Sometimes we sang an old hymn.

 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling

Calling for you and for me

Patiently Jesus is waiting and watching

Watching for you and for me.

 

Come home.  Come home.

You who are weary come home.

Earnestly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home!

 One day, I let go of the pew in front of me and went forward.  Those first few steps made all the difference. When He called, I came.  Ever since that day, I have been listening for His voice. I have never heard God speak audibly, though I do not doubt God can speak audibly to whomever He chooses. For me, it is an inner voice.  Sometimes His voice acts like a compass, pointing the way forward.

  Even when we wander away, drawn away by smells and sounds of the world, He is always calling, waiting and watching for us to come home to God.

 Jesus said, “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. … I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”     (John 10:2-3, 14-15).

 In Psalms the Bible says, “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”  (Psalm 147:3-4).  God knows your name. He knows mine.  If we listen, we can hear him calling.