Where Are You?
by Barbara Chadwick



"Where are you?" my 93 year old mother asked.

"We just passed through Boise, Idaho going toward Utah" I replied into my cell phone."

Mother said, "I remember a Women's Missionary Retreat we went to in Boise. We had such a good time. Those years I lived and worked in the Utah Idaho Baptist Convention were such a blessing to me. I was Girls Auxiliary Director for the state convention and Director for the Concern Center in Salt Lake City." She was in her 70's then. "Ministering in God's Name is very fulfilling." We talked further about memories of those days then rang off.

After saying goodby I was reviewing my own memories and the ministry journey God had led us on.

Kenneth had finished the Interim Pastor position at Glacier Valley Baptist Church in Juneau and we were on our way back home to Colorado and waiting for our next assignment.

To know that God has used you to bring someone to Christ or help ease a burden or keep a church going fills your heart with gladness and joy.

A little later I got a call from a friend. "Where are you?" she asked

"About an hour out of Boise, Idaho. We hope to be home tomorrow. How is it going for you?" I asked.

"It's OK. My husband is serving as Interim Pastor and I can't wait 'til he's finished. I don't like it when he does that. It takes him away from home and he stays busy all the time."

After finishing the conversation with her I reflected on our journeys. She had often been unfulfilled and unhappy. While my mother had sometimes been mad or unhappy about a situation she had mostly been fulfilled during her journey and it had been the same for me.

It got me to thinking. Both women had asked, "Where are you?" and yet both had experienced widely different levels of happiness in the degree of involvement in ministry. Would it have made a difference if she had gone with and been involved with her husband? Maybe, but only if she was doing it, "as unto the Lord."

There are blessings stored up in heaven waiting to be claimed. I pray that we will be willing and obedient to do those things God puts in front of us to do, claiming the blessings that come from serving in God's Name.