Going With the Flow – Or Following the Call?

Joseph McRae Mellichamp
Emeritus Professor of Management Science
The University of Alabama

[Oct. 19,2009] —

I celebrated my 70th birthday this summer, and much as I hate to admit it, I spent the first half of my life going with the flow rather than following any sense of calling. Here is some proof:

• I chose to go to college at Georgia Tech because I was given an academic scholarship there, not because I had a passion to study engineering.
• I chose my major (industrial engineering) after first trying chemical engineering and finding it distasteful, and next architecture and concluding that I didn’t have the talent.
• I enrolled in ROTC and served in the military not because of a sense of patriotism but because I wanted to avoid being drafted and serving as an enlisted man.
• I selected my branch of service, the Air Force, only partially because I wanted to become a pilot, but also because Army and Navy guys had to clean a rifle.
• I selected my Ph.D. major, operations research, because I could complete the degree requirements in minimum time, not because of a passion for OR.
• I chose my dissertation topic in an area for which I had no interest simply because a government agency funded it and I had a wife and family to support.

It wasn’t until I was well established in academe that I truly started becoming more intentional about my life endeavors. What made the difference?

What Would I Want Said About Me?

While walking across the campus one day in the mid 1970s I reflected on the obituary of a very well-known university colleague I had read about in the local newspaper the previous evening. As I walked, I pondered, “What would I want my obituary to say about me when I die, hopefully years from now?”

I decided that I would want it to say that I used my position, my gifts and abilities, and my opportunity to impact my university and higher education for good and to reach my colleagues and students for Jesus. I’m sure, looking back, that God was putting these thoughts in my mind as He affirmed my calling to the university.

For the next 20 or so years, I devoted my efforts to trying to understand what it meant to be called as a Christian professor to have an influence for Christ in academe and to be obedient to that calling. About ten years ago I read Os Guinness’ profound book, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, and as I read, it was like a light dawning and the pieces falling into place. Here are a couple of insights:

• “Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to His summons and service.”

• “The truth is not that God is finding us a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of His choosing—and we will only be ourselves when we are there.”

What about you? Are you going with the flow or following the call?

[To download a copy of Rae’s study guide to The Call, visit:
http://www.facultylinc.com/idea-center/the-call-by-os-guiness-discussion-notes/
Rae suggests gathering some colleagues for a book study and then using the guide as a supplement – Ed.]