Walking with Paul

It's been awhile here but now I'm getting back to this thing. While listening the the radio, my husband heard a really great idea. Basically you read the same part of the Bible for three or four weeks. It really helps commit the bible to memory. So both of us are starting with the book of Galatians. It is six chapters and a great start. So I'll be spending time reflecting on the book of Galatians over the next few weeks.
I first want to start with a general reflection on the life of Paul. For anyone who doesn't know, Paul was a leader in the Jewish community. He was a very righteous, law loving guy. He was moving up in rank among the Jews faster than most men his age. He absolutely hated those who were following Christ. But then, he was stopped in his tracks and turned completely around. How completely? This to me is mind blowing. He not only accepted Christ but he was sent out to witness to the people that he would have detested the most, the gentiles. His calling was to be a missionary to the gentiles! Why not to the Jews by whom he was respected? Why not witness to the people he knew and loved? Instead God called him as far out of his comfort zone as possible. He not only answered that calling but he embraced the calling. He cast off the burden of the laws he had so fully embraced and instead carried a burden of love for a people that were viewed as lower than low.
When reading the bible it would be very easy to think of Paul as a righteous, almost perfect man. It would be easy to think that he never questioned the call given to him. Before he went out to be a missionary though he spent a good bit of time in seclusion seeking the knowledge and wisdom of God. I can't help but think that during that time, and probably many times after, that Paul questioned what he was called to do. He probably had that Jonah experience, wanting to jump off the boat and swim as far away as possible. The difference between Jonah and Paul is significant. Jonah went begrudgingly to Ninevah. Paul went willingly to the gentiles. He loved them.
What is your calling and what is your response to God? Are you willing to give up everything you're comfortable with to follow the call of God on your life? Not everyone is going to be called to a foreign country, teaching a foreign people. We all at some point will be called to do something that we are not comfortable doing. When that time comes will your response be a Jonah response or a Paul response?