Because you said so, I will...

This week our DTS class is studying "Christian Leadership". As we began, I must admit, I was fearful that it would be a repeat of all the information I've received through my studies in Educational Leadership and five years as a coach. Fortunately, I was wrong. On the first day, our speaker, Dave, offered up the question, "What was different about the twelve disciples that caused Jesus to choose them?" Looking at a passage in Luke 5, we see that Peter, despite his bad day, tedious work, and Jesus lack of knowledge about fishing, when Jesus asked Peter to "let down your nets", Peter replied "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you said so, I will let down the nets." Dave's point, and God's, was that despite Peter's possible doubts and lack of success previously he was willing to obey Jesus.
After pionting this truth out to our class, Dave asked us to play a game of "Simon says". We agreed ( I mean what else were we going to do?). Dave then stated, "OK. Simon says, 'Clean your rooms.'" After a bit of hesitation and snickering, we headed to our rooms to clean as an act of obedience to our speaker and for no other reason. The question is, would we do that for our Lord?
Now, there's another catch. Dave came to our room and reminded us that in cleaning our rooms we there would be a reward at the end, a clean room. But the reality is, we don't always get tangible rewards for our obedience to God. Sometimes God just wants to see if we are willing to serve him despite what we get.For me, this realization reconciled my confusion in God's plan for sending me to Chicago. I've often had trouble understanding why God would take me to a cold place, away from family and friends, and place me in a hostile work situation with limited Christian fellowship. While cleaning the shower, a feeling of great joy struck me! In testing my obedience to go to Chicago, He is possibly training me to follow Him into more crazy adventures! How fun?!