Here's an article of Bo Sanchez, a renowned Filipino Catholic preacher, about his nine-year old son Bene I would like to share with you:
What Is God’s Call For Your Life?
Last month, I was invited to speak to a special Kids for Christ gathering.
But I couldn’t make it. So the unbelievable happened. The organizers invited my 9-year old son, Bene, to speak instead. Ha!
I wasn’t there. But my wife was there. My mother was there. My mother-in-law was there. My sisters were there. My nephews and nieces were there. Goodness, everyone else in my planet was there—giving their full support to him. After all, it was his first time to ever give a talk.
According to witnesses (biased, I’m afraid), he spoke like a pro. They said he spoke like me. But there must be a grain of truth to these biased observations because right after his speech, he received invitations to speak all over the country—and even as far as Singapore!
I now believe in the improvement of the race. I started preaching at age 13. My son starts preaching at 9. I was invited to speak internationally when I was 20. He gets invited internationally at 9 too.
Funny, but all these years, I’ve never told my son, “Bene, I want you to be a preacher like me.” In fact, I told him, “Bene, I want you to be anything God wants you to be. He’ll fill your heart with a passion for what He wants you to be. You can be a chef, an artist, a businessman… Anything!”
But even before his first talk, he already told his mother weeks ago, “Mommy, I think my core gift is to speak to large audiences.”
My wife was shocked. How did he know? When he said this, he never even tried speaking to a large audience. It was eerie.
And then he gave the talk—which proved his statement true.
At this point, I still don’t know what my son will be when he grows up. He’s still discerning his call. He may still become a chef (he likes cooking his own breakfast) or be a businessman (he started his first business selling bangus at age 5). I’d be happy whatever his call is.
Here’s a simple message I’d like to share with you. I believe discerning God’s call for your life isn’t complicated. I think it’s downright simple. Just ask yourself, What’s my wealth? That’s what He wants you to give to Him. And that’s His special call for your life.
In Luke 18:22, Jesus called the rich young man to sell all he had and Him. God gave him material wealth so that he can give it away and bless others.
My wealth is to communicate through preaching and writing. That is what I have in abundance. And so for the past 30 years, I’ve been giving it away and blessing the world with my “wealth”.
My wife’s wealth is her being a wonderful mother. And this too is her call from God, at least for this stage of her life. She cares for our two boys fulltime and even teaches them herself. Yes, we’re crazy. We homeschool them. (For more information on homeschooling, log on at www.CatholicFilipinoAcademy.com)
What do you have in abundance?
What is your core gift?
What is your wealth?
Go ahead. Share it to the world.
This is God’s call for your life.
May your dreams come true
We as parents, want our children to follow our footsteps so to speak, most of the time, like choosing the career for them, the friends they have to hang around, etc.
The tendency is that they rebel, choosing the opposite direction. Before maturity, we can guide them, remembering the precepts of the Lord. As Bo says, discern, ask for the help of the Lord.
I am past this stage of child rearing, I cannot help but wonder about Kayelle and Matthew. Whatever is your will Lord.
