The Lost Camper: Making Yourself Available.

Last Sunday the Sunday School lesson was on Isaiah.  While I was studying the passage one verse kept sticking out at me and reminded me of my Dad.  I think one of his favorite verses was Isaiah 6:8....and he followed it.  My father loved doing things for people. He was not highly educated....in fact he quit school when he was in the 8th grade to help on the farm.  He would later get a GED but I thought he was the most intelligent man on the face of the earth.  He was not called to be a pastor....but he was called to be a van driver (for kids whose parents did not bring them to church, a deacon, a teacher, a visitor, his life spoke volumes.....at least they did to me....and the others whose lives he touched.  He was an amazing man.)  One of my favorite sayings that my Dad always said was: "God doesn't want your capability. He only wants your availability. If you'll give Him your availability, He'll provide the capability." "Availability is when you make yourself accessible for utilization. Availability is what we see in Isaiah 6:8 -- "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send and who will for us?' Then I said, 'Here am I; send me.'"  My Dad was always available to God.  I loved him for it.  Last Sunday....I heard my father talking to me....both of them....my earthly one....and my heavenly one and I knew I was being asked to be available.  I was researching the internet looking for a powerful Father's Day prompt I could use for Sunday....found this amazing story....and decided to use it today.  I cannot imagine the agony of this father and to be honest don't want to....but thank God...someone was available.

"Father's Day is normally a day of joy. For Toby Hawkins, Father's Day 2005 was a day of despair. His son Brennan had been missing for two days. Brennan had gone to a Boy Scout camp in the mountains of Utah. Somewhere between the camp's artificial climbing wall and the chow hall, Brennan got separated from his group.

Three thousand volunteers had been searching for Brennan but could find no trace of the boy. By the fourth day, things looked hopeless. An 11-year-old without food or shelter could not last much longer.

A man named Forrest Nunley heard about Brennan's predicament on the news. The 43-year-old house painter from Salt Lake City took time off from work and drove nearly two hours to the search area. But instead of looking in the area near the camp, where the search had been focused over the last four days, Forrest took his ATV about five miles away from the camp. By midday, he found Brennan.

Nunley said, "'I turned a corner, and there was a kid standing in the middle of the trail. He was all muddy and wet from walking over wet ground."

After picking up the young man, Nunley pulled out his cell phone - relieved to get a signal - and called 911 to report his find. Brennan Hawkins was saved because Forrest Nunley made himself available for the search."
(From a sermon by Michael Luke, The Invitation Factor, 5/5/2011)

 My charge for you this morning. is this:  ⁸ Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”  I said, “I’m here; send me.”  It does not matter what you are called to do....fill a pulpit, be a missionary, teach Sunday School, leave everything you know behind and go where God sends you, pick up people and take them places, fix a meal, fix a cake, visit, pray....all God wants is for us to be available and He will take care of the rest.  Here I am Lord, send me!