Readiness

From "My Utmost for His Highest," by Oswald Chambers:

When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, "Here I am." Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.

Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. ". . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ." ( John 17:22 ).

Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.

Five Weeks and Counting...

Five weeks till graduating from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). My Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies and my Certificate in Nonproliferation Studies included the study of the workings of various WMD, U.S. foreign policy, the North Korean nuclear crisis, terrorism involving WMD, comparative national security policies, technology and international security, and many more.


In addition, with my fluency in Korean and various experiences, it appears as though I should be some expert fit to analyze and advise on important security issues. Yet I feel so embarrassingly inadequate when I think about it. What have I learned over the last two years? All those hours reading books and papers or sitting at the computer late into the night ... I thought I'd feel properly equipped and prepared to work in this field after MIIS. Rather, as the end draws near, the dominant thought in my mind is, "I'm so ill-prepared to serve ... " It's true: the more one learns and broadens his horizons, the more he realizes how much he doesn't know ...

How ironic ...