Donkey

 For my first ten years of ministry, I was a glorified donkey. I traveled America with my grandfather, acting as his interpreter, visiting churches, home groups, and anyone who reached out and wanted us to come speak, doing my best to juggle school and being on the road nine months out of the year. I was twelve when I started. Other than Alaska, I’ve been to every state in the Union, and depending on how you feel about Puerto Rico, I’ve yet to visit that as well.

It got easier once I got a driver’s license and was able to rent cars, but for the first few years, we had to rely on the kindness of people we’d never met to pick us up from the airport, take us to their home or a motel, and make sure we made the scheduled services on time. We met some good and kind people along the way and some who weren’t so good and kind after they heard what my grandfather had to say. We took it all in stride because we had a duty, a calling, some might say even a mandate to bring a hard message to a soft church about the coming trying days. Coincidentally, the days of which we warned for the better part of a decade are now here, but that’s a different topic for another time.

It wasn’t always hard, but it was never easy, especially as my grandfather’s deteriorating health made it difficult for him to walk. Even so, he persevered, going wherever he was called without complaint, even when I had to carry him from the car to the motel room. Whenever I’d ask him why we were keeping at the pace we were going, his answer would always be because God said.

It was never about building a ministry, legacy, or brand name; it was always because God said. It’s not as though all the travel didn’t take a toll. Even though he never talked about it, I could see it on his face readily enough. He missed his wife whenever we were on the road and his daughter and my two little brothers, whom we got to see for a day or two whenever we’d stop by home to get fresh clothes and drop off the laundry.

Make no mistake: a life in ministry is a life of sacrifice. It is a life lived doing what God commanded you to do, even if you’d rather be doing something else, like spending time with your family or fishing. My grandfather loved to fish.

Ministry is not like building a company, at least not a real ministry. You don’t build it until you can coast, retire, or have a hefty golden parachute waiting at the end of the rainbow. It is a life of service, more often than not thankless, and occasionally, even heartbreaking when those on behalf of whom you’ve sacrificed your life lash out in anger because the message you were tasked with delivering seemed too harsh and abrasive.

After he passed, I believed my time in ministry had likewise ended because I had served my purpose, I’d been his interpreter for as long as he needed me to, and I’d started making plans for life after ministry. It was time to pick a career, settle down, start a family, and do the things people who are not constantly on the road do.

Then God said no. I pretended I hadn’t heard, and He got louder until I relented and continued in the work, not because it had been a dream or because I wanted to be in ministry, but because God said.

I was hesitant because I knew what real ministry was and what my life would be. It’s not a life I would have chosen if I had a choice. Yet, here I am because when God calls, you answer, and when He tells you what you must do, you do it.

I was content being a donkey and did it faithfully, to the best of my ability. I never aspired to more, nor did I harbor a desire for something beyond it. If God had not called me to continue in the ministry, I would have accepted it as His will and continued to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. It would not have changed my relationship with Him, nor would it have changed my faithfulness to Him.

Had I aspired to more, and had God not called me to it, there is a chance that I would have become embittered, going about my days trying to convince Him why He made a mistake in not calling me to continue in the work.

Be content where He has you, and allow the time required for the testing of your faith to produce patience in you. Do not worry about tomorrow or where you will be a year from now because God knows, and as long as He knows, it is well with you. Be obedient in the present, with no ulterior motive or aspiration for something greater. He will see your obedience, He will see your faithfulness, and He will reward it.

If you’re waiting on a calling, make use of the time you’ve been given to grow in God, mature your spiritual man, study the Word to show yourself approved, and build up your most holy faith so that when He does send you forth, you are well equipped to stand against the darkness and proclaim the truth of God’s word with boldness.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.