Writers can’t shake the need to write. It is unexplainable. It is in them and must be released from the heart and mind to the pen and paper, or in our generation to the keyboard and laser printer. The same is true with a missionary. They have this sense of calling to go when it seems senseless. They know it is something they have to do or they will wither on the vine like an unpicked vegetable. It is a calling. Many writers wouldn’t describe it as such, but since this post is about missionary writing, we are using terms that describe missionary behavior. Many writers would describe what I am talking about as their life occupation or some other relative term in that same vein. Regardless, it is a sense of abode that you cannot run away from no matter what or how you try.

When you have an honest to goodness call of in your life, you can’t help but take action. It compels you. Our love for writing spurs us to action that sometimes is met with skepticism and negativity from others. Call is a question of “who” you are listening to – as in God or others– and who you are becoming.
“There is more in a human life than our theories of it allow. Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this “something” as a signal moment in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events truck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I’ve got to have. This is who I am.” (James Hillman The Soul’s Café.)

For a missionary, a call that doesn’t require action is not a call at all. When God calls a missionary, He expects an answer. Many times people have confused a call with a desire to be involved with something they think is cool or would bring success and a popular name. A call is not about being successful or having people recognize our name. When you think about writing in those terms as your call, it elevates it to a different level. Writing does not become a task or a futile game of survival, but one of sharing something that could change someone’s life.