When I share about prison ministry, there’s one response I’m almost guaranteed to hear: “Oh, how wonderful, it takes a special calling to do that kind of work.”

Maybe you’ve heard it too. It must take a “special calling” to live in an underdeveloped country, to learn a new language, to raise children away from family, to fundraise for our basic needs…doesn’t it?

I’m not sure. I think usually the comment, though undoubtedly meant as an encouragement, is shorthand for “that sounds incredibly difficult.” And difficult is not what most of us want to choose.

But difficult is our calling. Not our calling as global workers, but our calling as Jesus-followers. His command is clear: deny yourself. Take up your cross. That’s for everyone. There are no “super-Christians” with “special callings” and “regular Christians” with “ordinary callings.” Each of us is called to go against the grain of the world’s values and our deep-seated desires for safety and comfort in radical pursuit of our Savior. 

He will lead us to places we never expected, and maybe never desired. Maybe a slum, a hospice, a war zone, or a prison. Maybe through friendship we enter into our neighbors’ stories of trauma, abuse, and spiritual oppression we wish we could shut out. I wish these things were part of a “special calling” that I could release to someone else. 

But we HAVE received something special – Jesus’ presence. When we follow Him, we get to be with Him. The indwelling and empowering work of the Holy Spirit equips us beyond all measure, and uplifts us in our deepest need. We can choose “difficult” – choose the way of the cross – not because we are special, but because He is.