Feeling Unprepared, Knowing You are Called

"Mary, we need to be on the road. We have to make it to Bethlehem before the baby is born. I think we need to leave early tomorrow morning. Do you have everything together that you will need both for the journey and the birth?"
"Do I have everything I will need, Joseph? I have no idea - What will I need to give birth to the Son of God?

This morning I was imagining a conversation between Mary and Joseph as they saddled up the donkey and headed to Bethlehem. I'm not sure anyone in history could feel as unprepared for a world-changing task than Mary did as she prepared for the birth of Jesus. And then there is Joseph - What was he thinking as he headed off to Bethlehem with a very pregnant young girl - who was his wife, but not carrying his child and with whom he had promised to be pure and righteous. I am thinking they both must have felt VERY unprepared - for the journey and also for the future events that they knew were ahead of them. So, the scenario begs the question - Why did they go? Why did they continue to move ahead with the plan? Surely they could have made some excuse to stay behind - or Joseph could have gone on his own explaining Mary's condition. (I've been in enough Middle Eastern settings to know that given the situation and all the people it would have been very possible for Joseph to fly under the radar of the census takers.) But he didn't. Mary did pack her bag and climb onto the donkey for the one week or more journey to Bethlehem. I think they went because they were called of God. Both Mary and Joseph had supernatural encounters with an angel - giving them their call - explaining their part in this world-changing adventure. So they went. Most likely not with an abundance of natural confidence. Not feeling like they had the world by its tail. Not even fully aware of the dangers, the miracles, the unlikeliness of some of the settings. They went.

When I first joined the group I work with - I had no idea what the future held. I had a plan to go to the Discipleship Training School for 6 months, but after that I knew nothing. I had quit my job that I loved, sold most of my household belongings and was preparing to go. I remember speaking with a man at church (he was a special speaker whose name I can't even remember). I went up to him and explained my apprehension in not having a long-term plan. His response was - "Do you have your marching orders?" I thought that a strange question. "What do you mean?", I replied. He said, "Do you really believe God has called you to go?" "Well, yes, of course I do, I wouldn't have left my job and sold everything if I wasn't confident that God said Go" - "Well, then GO - and let God unfold the rest of His plan"

I'm sitting here thinking that must have been how Mary and Joseph felt - both confident deep within themselves that God had called them - called them to be the parents of His Son, called them to travel to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy . . . but I am also just as certain that they both probably felt very UNPREPARED for the journey. I am so grateful that they obeyed - they pushed forward with God's plan, not based on feelings, but rather based on knowing they were called. May God give us all the grace to do the same with what He has called us to do.