So what are you doing here? 

If you’re like me, you’re probably not sure, at least not all of the time … OK, not even most of the time.  I mean, there are times, moments of clarity when I know what God has called me to, who I am in Him and my place in the story; but if I am honest, those times seem surreal, like a dream.  You know, those nighttime visions in which you magically know how to play the guitar or ride that perfect wheelie or sing on key.  Then you wake up, so sure how to proceed, only to realize that the once again the fog has settled in and clarity is anything but clear. 

I just finished It’s Your Call – What Are You Doing Here by Gary Barkalow.  Man, I wish I had this book a year ago … or twenty years ago for that matter.  Calling, especially God’s calling on our lives, is so opposed.  Our enemy twists it and contorts our interpretation of it until we are left seriously doubting any purpose for our lives at all aside from the usual paying of taxes and trying to keep our kids out of jail.   But like a lighthouse in the midst of that fog, Barkalow offers a clear point of reference to re-orient us to the truth; and that truth is very good news my friends.  It is the truth that God has created you, and me, with a unique role to play in this grand adventure that we call life.

Beyond orientation and clarity of the battle set against you though, Gary also offers something of even greater value: he offers perspective.   You see, I know that God has called me, and I know that this calling is opposed, but it is the interpretation of the events that follow that keep coaxing  me out of that ‘dream’ and into a ‘consciousness’ that appears more true of who I really am.  It’s not, of course. It’s the Matrix, it's ‘the world that has been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth’; but it seems so real, so true of who I am.

In the last chapter of It’s Your Call, Barkalow reminds us that between desire and fulfillment of this call that each of us have, there is a chasm, a time when ‘reality is far more disrupting than dreaming’.  That truth alone, spoken by a man who has walked a road that many of us are on as well, is worth the fourteen dollar price tag.

So what are you doing here?  I can’t answer that question for you, but I can tell you that it is much bigger than you have been led to believe.  For me, I’m going to keep pursuing the dream.   As for you, well like Gary said, it’s your call.

To the King,

David