How do you know when God is calling?

Posted by JoAnn Sims on January 24, 2012
Categories: Japan , Peace

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Growing up in church, Larry and I always thought accepting God's call meant to become a minister or a missionary in some far off place like Africa or a remote village somewhere. I want to tell you a story that changed our minds.

It truly was a dark and stormy Friday night at the end of January last year (2011). Larry was doing his usual crossword puzzles on the floor and I shouted from the library to come and read an email we just received. It was from a couple who are members of the American Committee for the World Friendship Center. They have the responsibility to find directors for the World Friendship Center, a Japanese organization that is dedicated to fostering friendships between nations to promote world peace and nuclear weapon disarmament located in Hiroshima, Japan. Would we be interested?

I said, "Let's consider it."

Larry said, "Okay," but he already knew there were probably many reasons we could not go. For example, Expenses, Health Reasons, Family Responsibilities, Community Responsibilities, and Living in a different culture. Those five general categories grew to thirteen specific reasons we could not possibly go to Japan for two years as Volunteer Directors of the World Friendship Center (WFC).

No, It is too expensive: We had just returned from visiting WFC for two weeks in August of 2010. We knew how expensive it would be to live there.

• God’s response: Our way over and back to Japan will be paid. Our living expenses will be paid. We will stay at the WFC Japanese Inn. They will even provide us with a small stipend. Our son will take care of our home and cats. The required training of 3 weeks or 10 days is cancelled, however, The Brethren Volunteer Service arrange a special training for just Larry & I in Chicago. We go and amazingly meet our friend and folk singer, Mike Stern, from Seattle who just happens to be performing at a men’s retreat at the Brethren Church in the area. We reconnect. He had visited our home church two years ago for a Peace Concert when the WFC ambassadors visited First Baptist Church, McMinnville, Oregon.

No, We are not healthy enough: My husband, Larry, is insulin dependent. He needed to make certain he could get the care and medicine he needed.

• God's response: Our doctor says GO! The health system there is better than here! We’d most likely come back healthier because the food is less rich and we would be walking or biking everywhere. The office manager at WFC will connect us with an English-speaking doctor specializing in diabetes who works with her husband at Hiroshima University Medical Hospital. My previous irregular mammogram is now clear and normal.

No, We have family responsibilities: Larry’s parents are elderly. What if an emergency arose? What about our kids and grandkids? Japan is a long way away.

• God's response: Larry’s parents were financially settled and his brothers are in the same city as his parents. If there were an emergency instead of taking us 1 day to get there, it might take up to 2 days from Japan. The committee would “substitute” for us up to 1 month if we needed to come back for an emergency. Our daughter’s family was planning to visit friends in Japan during Dec/Jan and they would stop and see us too. They ask, could our grandson, who is 13, spend a summer month with us while we are there? Our son made plans to visit us the second fall of our stay.

No, We have community responsibilities: We just moved into our new home. Larry didn’t want to leave the Board of Trustees at Linfield College, our membership at First Baptist Church, the peacemakers groups, and my job as adjunct professor in the Education Department at Linfield College.

• God's response: Linfield Trustees appointed Larry as “Honorary Trustee” so that he can remain active and not be required to attend meetings until he returns. The Linfield Education Department tells me to GO and let them know when I return. The various peacemaking community groups say GO and to keep in touch. FBC arranges for us to keep in touch while we are gone and they arrange with the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America to do a joint commissioning of our peace work.

No, We can’t live in a different culture: Japan is a different culture. We don’t even know the language!

• God's response: The office manager at WFC is bilingual and speaks English well. We really are familiar with the culture and already know many of the WFC board of directors. We examine the job description and agree that we can do it. We stayed at WFC for two weeks last summer. We know the place and the neighborhood. We know the Directors in the past have been Brethren. When we say we aren’t Brethren, they say are you Christian? We say, yes, we are American Baptist. They say, Oh! That’s even better!

By the time six of the thirteen specific reasons we couldn’t go to Japan literally melted away we both looked at each other and felt chills up and down our spine. We suspected it was God calling us to World Friendship Center and Hiroshima, Japan. We continued down the list and every one of the 13 reasons totally disappeared!

When you hear God’s voice speaking to you, you’ll probably do like we did. Think of all kinds of reasons you couldn’t possibly answer the call. And hopefully like us, you will realize that God is calling and that you must respond with God’s spirit to do the task. Our pastor in Seattle always says, “If you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts.” God’s voice, our call, came through the Internet in the form of an email. Be sure and pay attention to your email!

JoAnn & Larry Sims
Volunteer Directors
World Friendship Center
Hiroshima, Japan

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