I think that I was called to vocational ministry the summer following my sophomore year in high school. I signed up to go to Uganda, Africa on a youth trip that summer. I signed up because it just seemed like something cool to do; little did I know that God had much bigger and drastically different plans for me. After just a few hours there, I began to have a heart for Uganda. It wasn’t just a heart for Uganda, but I began to have a true heart for the poor, and I knew then that God was calling me to travel to countries all over the world. I didn’t know what all He would want me to do, but I did know that I was simply called to go and go often. Well, I went back the following summer on another youth trip. I then went to college. While there I was studying youth ministry. For a while I knew I had a passion for missions and traveling but I still felt drawn to be a youth pastor. I studied for three years at college, but my last semester there radically changed my world and my mind. The Holy Spirit began almost shouting at me. I had ignored him for so long, but He now had my attention. He kept asking me the same question over and over again. I kept hearing, “David, why have you lost your passion to serve and to seek and save the lost?” That question haunted me my last month of class. I knew that God was calling me somewhere, but where could he possibly be calling me? Well, I shared this with my dad and we discussed and prayed over the issue consistently.
Meanwhile, there was a class at school in which I was struggling. This class had basically made me have a depressed semester. I told my dad that if I didn’t do well in the class then I was taking a semester off. He was calm and replied that maybe it was time for me to take a break and see what else God might be trying to show me. Needless to say, I did not do well on that class. So, like I had threatened, I took a semester off. I was praying for somewhere to go serve and God provided and lined up all the details. I was blessed enough to spend two months in Uganda. I lived in a village with an African man and his family that I met when I went in high school. While there, God confirmed that he was calling me to go and serve. I did not know if He wanted me to live somewhere overseas for a while, or just go as often as I could, but still live at home. All I knew was that God called me to go and I was just beginning to listen. Well, I got back and readjusted to the American culture, but I still knew God had more in store for me. So, I just have been working at a daycare and taking a few online classes here and there, while constantly praying for God to open doors for me go somewhere. The Spirit was telling me, “Don’t pursue or decide on any one option until you know that is where I want you.” As uneasy as that was to hear, I could find comfort knowing that God had something amazing planned for me in the future. Furthermore, that leads me to where I am now. God opened the doors and presented me with the opportunity to go on the World Race in September. It is still absolutely mind-blowing to think that I will be going to eleven countries in eleven months. I will be planting and water the seed on the soil of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, China, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Romania, and Ukraine. I still do not know whether He wants me to live as a fulltime missionary in another country or to just go as often as I can while living in the United States; however, there is one thing that I do know. I know that God is just looking for us to say yes. It is in our utmost obedience and surrender where we find complete freedom to live for Him and freedom to live the life we were meant to live.
