Obeying Jesus Might Not Make Sense - JUST DO IT Anyway

 

It was a Saturday evening and I'd just got home, exhausted and looking forward to relaxing. I'm not sure but I think I watched a movie or something. What I remember is seeing a WhatsApp notification make its way onto my phone screen. I wasn't excited about receiving it and just tossed my phone to the side, along my bed, and refocused my attention to my computer screen.

The message that had come in was from a lady from church. The first few words read, "Hey Gael. Super last minute but do you mind..." The reason I didn't open to check the rest of it was that I knew what I was being asked to do. She was asking me to lead service the next morning at church. Now, those who know me very well know that I'm highly reluctant with that last minute request stuff. I function best when I've been mentally prepared in advance.

I tried to ignore it for a bit, deciding I'll think about it later. However, I wasn't at peace after that. My spirit couldn't just be calm and rest. The Holy Spirit kept nudging me, and I thought to myself, "It's not like I haven't led service before. It's not rocket science. God is the one who functions through me even when I've prepared anyway. Plus, I'm probably the only one available for the task at this moment."  I can't count how many times I've prepared myself and got on that podium only to completely go off script. However, every time that has happened, somehow what I say has always been in line with the Word that was to be preached that day. It always blows my mind. I never get used to it.

Two hours later, I was still wrestling but slowly submitting. My phone rang and it was the same lady who sent the text. This time I was cornered. There was no way I could ignore it. If I did, I'd have probably ended up lying about why I couldn't be reached, the following day. NO! I wasn't going to allow that. I needed my conscience free, at ease and at peace. So I answered. and acted like I didn't know what was coming..smh. I confessed to her a few days later though, and I'll tell you why.

After agreeing to lead service the next morning, I immediately felt a weight lift off of me. I should have just answered that text two hours before...smh again. Sunday morning, praise and worship was awesome, and the whole time I kept praying, "Lord, I'm sorry for resisting but thank you also for your Grace. Thank you for choosing me. I don't know why but you do. Whatever it is you've called me for, let it be done. I'm here." At the end of the session, I got on the podium, prayed and got started with the service. I introduced myself, "My name is Gael Tunga Rutembesa, and I'm honored and privileged to lead service today. I don't know why God chooses me for things such as this, but He does." I had told myself I won't say much, but then I went on, totally off script again.

"At the beginning of the year, I challenged myself to obey and do whatever the Lord tells me to do, and go wherever He tells me to go. It gets hard to do that because sometimes that will require us to go way off our comfort zones. Sometimes we'll tend to resist because of our insecurities. We think we are not capable or we are unworthy. Even Moses almost resisted what God called him for. He had a stutter, yet he was being called to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt and the elders of Israel. But what did God ask Him? 'Who gave you that mouth?'" BOOM...That hit me at that moment too. "May that be a challenge to you also; to answer when God calls you. Whatever He asks you to do, just do it. He'll enable you."

I didn't even know who the preacher of the day was. I found out when our lead pastor invited her onto the podium. She was visiting from Nairobi if I'm not mistaken. She gradually but surely built on her sermon, and for a while, other members of the congregation and I were lost. We couldn't tell where she was going with it. Somewhere in the middle of her preaching, she looked at me and said, "Gael!" I stood up fast like a soldier at attention and answered loudly, "Yes ma'am." Naah...Just kidding (My mind...smh). "You preached my sermon. You are in the Spirit." I didn't know what to do or say and so I raised my fist halfway in the air and said, "Glory to God?" with a confused look on my face (Not kidding this time).

She shared with us the story of when Jesus turned water into wine. "Imagine it yourselves," she said. "It was a wedding ceremony. There were a lot of people. And, the wine was finished. There were 6 big stone jars of water nearby and Jesus told the servants to fill them with water, before telling them to draw out and take some to the wedding MC. The MC tasted the 'water that was drawn from the jars' and told the groom, 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.' The wine was top notch. How long does it take to make the best wine? How long does it take for grapes to ferment to the finest quality? It takes years, right? Imagine what the servants were thinking when Jesus told them to fill the jars with water. The wine was needed urgently and there was a man telling them to fill jars with WATER. It didn't make any sense, but they did it anyway."

And Jesus' first miracle was witnessed, defying all human logic and showing God's infinite power. Towards the end, the pastor pointed us to verse 5 of John 2:1-11, before looking at me and telling me again, "Gael. I told you that you preached my sermon." I was done after that hearing the words that popped out of that verse. I won't tell you of the tears I cried after. God had broken me down and blown my mind yet again. The verse reads what Mary mother of Jesus told the servants after the wine had run out,

"Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you."