Duke Jeyaraj on Tatenda Taibu's choice to join fulltime ministry quitting cricket
The website, mid-day.com posted the following lines about Tatenda Taibu's retirement: Tatenda Taibu suprised many with his decision to retire from international cricket at the age of 29 yesterday. “I just feel that my true calling now lies in doing the Lord’s work,” Taibu was quoted as saying in the media, “and although I am fortunate and proud to have played for my country, the time has come for me to put my entire focus on that part of my life.”
However, Aakash Chopra, who played with the wicketkeeper-batsman for Kolkata Knight Riders during the Indian Premier League’s first season in 2008, said the decision came as no surprise to him. Chopra revealed that Taibu was always seen reading the bible after matches. “I am not at all surprised with the reason behind his decision (to retire). I have always seen him reading the bible whenever he was not playing cricket,” Chopra told MID DAY. Chopra said Taibu was always a religious person. “While all other cricketers would listen to music, surf the internet or watch television, Taibu would read the bible. In fact, he never even watched television (during his time with KKR). I thought that it may be his way of unwinding from the game, so I never bothered to look beneath the surface,” he added.
Taibu’s decision was more surprising as he was named in Zimbabwe’s provisional squad for World T20 earlier in the day. What caused a cricketer to chose fulltime ministry over a lucarative career of playing international Cricket? In this essay, I will talk about from what directions a call for fulltime ministry comes. Hang on.
Priyanka Chopra's ambition!
She grew up in an obscure town in Uttar Pradesh - the town of Bareilly. She grew up with an ambition. Who? Priyanka Chopra. Her ambition was to become Miss World. On the magic night of November 20th, 2000, before a packed stadium and with a thousand flashbulbs blinking, her ambition became a reality.
This shepherd boy's ambition
He grew up as a shepherd boy in the little-known town of Tekoa, just outside of Jerusalem. He too had an ambition, I believe. That ambition, if it were put in Paul's words, would be:"To preach the Good News about the true God Yahweh in places where He was not named!"(Rom 15:20). He left Tekoa and went to the notorious town of Bethel in North Central Israel to become a powerful preacher-prophet to “do” his “dream”, to activate his ambition!
Your ambition?
What about you? Do you have an ambition? Do you have a dream? One life. That's what we've got. What should we do with it? What can we make with it? Ask Amos. This shepherd made his one life count. The call for him to become a preacher-prophet for Yahweh came from six different directions as I see it. May I share them with you? Guess what - the challenge for you to do something for Jesus, in the one life you have, could come from those very same directions!
1. The call from GOD!
Barking at Bethel!
The town of Bethel. A town that was the epicenter of idol-worship. Two golden calf altars stood there. They stood there stubbornly for many years. They were first set up by Jeroboam-I, the first king of divided part of North Israel (I Kings 12). They were still standing when Jeroboam-II became the king. Between Jeroboam-I and Jeroboam-II there were 12 kings who ruled. None of them could topple those obnoxious, Yahweh-upsetting golden calves. Amos left his little hometown of Tekoa, traveled to Bethel and barked God's words of judgment there. The priest who was in-charge of the idol worship in Bethel, Amaziah, could not stand this. "The land is not able to bear all his words," he complained to the king (Amos 7:10). And then he walks up to Amos and says, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom." (Am 7:12-13). From this request of Amaziah we learn much about the man.
This amazing fact about Amaziah jumps out from that demeaning demand of his: He was a priest in Bethel so that at the end of the day he would make money to "eat bread" there. However, if Amos continued his tirades against idol-worship, people would not worship idols anymore at Bethel and Amaziah would be booted out of his business. To prevent this from happening, Amos better leave Bethel and go to Tekoa so that he could "eat bread" there - make a living there! This was Amaziah's point here.
In a career just to fill your stomach?
What about you? Are you in a career doing some thing just to ‘make money’ to buy things to fill your stomach? Are you in a job just to help yourselves make some money to take care of those hunger pangs! Then, you would resemble Amaziah! But then, I want to resemble Amos!
Under Divine Dicates!
What was Amos' reply to Amaziah's suggestion that he pack his bags and go home?
Here it is: "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Now therefore hear the word of the Lord...." (Amos 7:14-15). Who drove Amos to take up the job of being Yahweh's spokesman in Bethel? It was God Himself. He was not doing it for the sake of loading his digestive system like Amaziah did his job. Amos was under Divine Dictates to do it!
No need to look beyond God!
We must invest our one life actively in the ministry of sharing the Gospel, especially with those who haven't heard it, in the one life we have. And we don't need to look beyond God for the invitation and motivation to do the same. If it is His will that all must be saved, should we not run to the last man on planet earth and tell him about Jesus - the one Person who can save that person (II Pet 3:9)?!
Your chief concern - What is it?
Feel the heart beat of God. You will discover that it is a missionary heart beat! This is seen best in the Jonah story. At the end of that story, God asks a penetrating question: "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:10-11). In other words, God's question to Jonah was this: "Your concern is for the wilting plant. My concern is for the perishing planet!" What about you? What concerns you the most? That you do not drive a Mercedes Benz? That you don't own a bungalow? That your girl friend is not pretty as Deepika Padukone? Will you make God's concern as your concern?! Will you invest your one life in the propagation of the Gospel?
The call to become a communicator of Yahweh's Truths for his generation came from another direction for Amos. Let's discuss that next....
2. The Call from GEHENNA!
Before Israel fully burns....
Gehenna is the strongest Bible word for hell. It was the Greek word that Jesus used to depict and describe hell. Yes, the call to go bananas about telling others about Jesus in the one life we have comes from Gehenna also, as it comes from God! Amos understood this. I grasp that when I read the following words of Amos: "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a burning stick plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me, " declares the LORD (Amos 4:11). "Sodom and Gomorrah can be likened to a fully burnt stick; North Israel can be likened to a partially burnt stick. Before North Israel fully burn under the judgment of God, let me go and announce to them - they should repent!" - This was the thought process in Amos' mind which made him thrash shepherding and take-up preaching!
The hell-heading 48,000!
It is said that 48,000 people among those who have never heard of Jesus die every day! Where do they go? To an eternal life in horrific hell. Can we simply watch that happen, sucking our thumbs? If all we do is to increase the temperature of our church seats by just sitting on them Sunday after Sunday, without doing anything else for the Lord, more and more millions will go the place with the highest temperature ever - hell, the "lake of fire that burns with sulfur" (Rev 19:20). And God would hold us squarely responsible for their lives and blood (Ezek 3:17-19).
The tale of two beggars!
The challenge to plunge into declaration of the Gospel comes from hell. It comes from a man who went to hell, rather. I refer to the rich man who lived in the same neighborhood as did Lazarus, the poor man. I am talking about a story that Jesus narrated in Luke 16. While on the earth it was the turn of Lazarus to beg. Now, even as he languished in the heat of hell, it was the turn of the Rich Man to beg. He says to Abraham who perhaps looked over him from heaven: "I beg you, father, to send Lazarus to my father's house — for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”(Luke 16:27-28). Here was an appeal to commission Lazarus as a missionary. And this appeal, very surprisingly, comes from hell. Did that request fall on your ears? Why don't you unplug your cell phone headphone from your ears so that you will be able to hear it?! The rich man in hell was talking about five of his brothers who would share his fate. But we are NOT talking about just five brothers here. We are talking about a larger group that will meet the same fate as that of the Rich Man. We are talking about 1 billion Indians, who are in the real danger of going to everlasting hell without Jesus and the Gospel! Why not plunge your one life into this noble rescue mission - that of saving souls speeding towards this sulfur-drenched scorching lake?
This Bihar Professor made me think!
These lines I read in a popular news magazine made me think. They were about a certain Zoology Professor. A Zoology Professor in the Patna University name Ravindra Kumar Sinha. Here they are: "Saving freshwater dolphins is life work for this Bihar Professor. 'If we do not act now, we'll soon see them only in National Geographic Channel!' he says." After reading those lines I told myself: "If I do not share the Gospel in some way or the other with my friends, I will see them only in hell!"
What’s next? The call to take up the job of barking God's judgment messages to North Israel came from yet another direction for Amos. Let us return to the book of Amos to figure that out....
3. The Call from GUTS!
When my wife vomited!
My wife and I got married on 9 July 2001. In December 2002 we were in my hometown Vellore holidaying. At that time, my wife started vomiting. Expectations filled the air. Was she pregnant? Had I become a Dad? No. It was just a result of indigestion! Our balloon of expectations, had burst! In February 2003 after a preaching assignment in Hubli, we headed for Goa, the coastal town with some of the most gorgeous beaches in the planet. When we reached Trivandrum (the place where we stayed in, then) after our "fun and everything" trip in Goa, my wife started vomiting again. Expectation rent the air again. This time it was not a case of false alarm! Evan, my wife, was indeed pregnant with Dale Nathan our son, the doctor confirmed!
The insuppressible urge
Amos too had a vomiting sensation. He expressed that experience in these words: “The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8). Put in another way, this is what Amos is saying: "The Lord God put in my gut a message. I cannot be normal unless I roar that message out loud and clear!" He was talking about a vomiting sensation in his gut to get the news of judgment that the Assyrians would attack the Northern Kingdom of Israel if they did not repent! This insuppressible urge in his gut challenged him to surrender his one life to Yahweh for the preaching of his message!
What is your gut saying?
What about you? What is your gut saying? Is it saying, "You must do something for God! You must do something for Jesus!" What do you do after such a compelling call from within you? Do your ignore it? Don’t! For such holy desires are not given to us by the Devil. It is indeed given to us by our Maker. I say that because I have read what Paul writes in Philippians 2:13: “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”. Will you also surrender your one life to Jesus so that your life will be used to spread the Good News, which is actually your all-consuming desire right now?
The lub-dub of your heart!
What motivated Nehemiah to kick his responsible Governmental Job with the Persian Government to give leadership to morale-down team of returnees to Jerusalem? Let's us give the mike to Nehemiah. This is what you would hear him say: "The desire to quit Persian politics and do something for Yahweh came from within!" How do I say that? I can say that after reading his words in Nehemiah 2:12 in the New Living Translation: "I had not told anyone about the plans God put in my heart for Jerusalem!"
What is the lub-dub of your heart? Is it Jesus, Jesus, Jesus? Why don't you then live out your one life for Jesus so that others will also find Him through you?
From what other directions did the motivation for Amos to give his one life Yahweh's service come? Let us dig deep into the book of Amos to find out the answers.
4. A call from the GRAVE!
Chilling, chilly-hot image!
Amos paints some grim, graveyard images for us in the first and second chapters of his book - images that move us and images that literally "moved" him from being a fig-picker in Tekoa to a fearless-preacher in Bethel (Fig-picking was one of the jobs that Amos also did along with sheep-rearing while he was in his hometown, as we come to know from Amos 7:14). Here is one such image: one brother chases another brother with a sword (Amos 1:11). If that was not chilling and chilly-hot enough he talks about pregnant women being ripped open (Amos 1:13).
Pregnant women ripped open!
Amos named Edom's sin of chasing its brother country Jacob with a sword in his book (Amos 1:11). Before he did this, he was obviously deeply disturbed by what he saw and wanted to something about it! Amos also pin-points the sin of Ammon - that of ripping open pregnant women (Amos 1:13). Here is what was happening in this case: the Ammonites, who were relatives of Israel through Lot's relationship with his own daughters, were concerned that the population of Israel was increasing a lot. So when they spotted a lady excepting they executed here! How cruel! Amos did not merely put his chin on his cheek when he saw that and just chuckle, "How cruel!" only to carry on with his life as if nothing had happened! Instead, Amos pro-actively responded to what he saw!
Arundhathi's arresting lines!
Gruesome, grave-populating events - they not only happen in the world of Amos, they happen in your world as well, don' they? Arundhathi Roy was talking about one such gruesome event in her essay, Democracy: Who is She when She is at Home? published inOutlook magazine (May 6, 2002). Here it is: Last night a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her 15 minutes to tell me what the matter was. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped open and stuffed with burning rags. Only that after she died, someone carved OM on her forehead.
Driving the jeep of our life
What effect did the above paragraph have on you? Do you just read and merely flip over the pages saying, "I' m indeed saddened by what is happening! But these things happen - don’t they!" Horrific events should motivate us to present the Gospel to the people who are at the receiving end of such cruel events! Let's lose our sleep over such events! Let's weep for the pain-ravaged people affected by such events! Let's drive the jeep of our life towards such flabbergasted folks so that we could heal the hurts in the heart with the healing balm called the Gospel!
What motivated Amos to give all he had for the work of announcing God's judgment?
message to the people of Bethel? There are two more directions from where this mission’s motivation comes for Amos. Let's us talk about them.
5. The call from the GAP!
Historic Reversal!
Bible scholars tell us that Amos speaks about a historic reversal in his book. Scratching your head? You don't have to. Let me elaborate: the God who sent locusts against Egypt, the country that ruled Israel once, will now send another army of locusts to attack Israel itself (Amos 4:9); the God who sent a death angel who passed through the land of Egypt finishing off their first born of the Egpytians, one fine day, long long ago, on behalf of the Israelites, would, now, pass through the people of Israel with a view to finish them (Amos 5:7; Exodus 12:12). Yes, it was true - a glaring gap existed between the Israel of yesterday and the Israel of Amos' day. In other words, what was once happening to the people of Egypt as an evidence of God's wrath against it, was now happening to Israel itself! That was the extent to which Israel had gone away from the LORD!
Tata to Tekoa - here's why!
As Amos compared the grim present with the glory days of the yesteryears, a deep dissatisfaction descended upon him! The glaring gap between heady past and heartrending present deeply bothered him. He did not simply hope that things would get better through a natural process like some folks in his time "who did not grieve over ruin of Joseph" (Am 6:4-6)! (By the way, Joseph was another name for the Northern part of Israel, the part of Israel Amos ministered to). A change would come, Amos desperately hoped. And he would volunteer to be God's agent for that change! That is why he said "Tata" to Tekoa to take up God's work in Bethel!
When Dhoni's boys repeated history!
When the likes of Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, R. P. Singh, M. S. Dhoni, Sreesanth, Yuvraj Singh were born, they were told about glory days of Indian cricket. They heard about how the gutsy Kapil Dev lead India to an improbable win over West Indies in the World Cup at the Lords Cricket Ground in the year 1983, even though they were bowled out for 183 in the final. They read about how young Ravi Shastri won an Audi Car along with the title, Champion of Champions, following Indian's sensational victory in the Benson and Hedges World Championships of Cricket at Melbourne in the year 1985. With this history still green in their memory, these young players went to play first edition of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in the year 2007. Possessed by a never-say-die desire to repeat history, they brought home the Twenty20 World Cup!
Tamil-writing German!
Turn. Turn back. And behold the glorious pages of Indian Mission history. You will read about how a 23 year old German man (Zieganbalg) came to Tamil Nadu and translated the Bible into the Tamil language, the year being 1706! You would read about a Cambridge university student named Ragland who rode on his horse and eat out of his hat and preaching Christ in the cracker town named Sivakasi - the town my forefathers lived in! Turn back again. Look at what is happening in your world in this century: the crass commercialization of the Christian religion by five star evangelists; dead preachers, preaching dead sermons to dead congregations; churches that boast about its seating capacity without being bothered about its sending capacity! And when you do, you will see the glaring gap between the awesome past and the awful present (unless you are stone blind!). That very difference should propel us to invest the one life we have for the Lord and His service!
We are almost done in this Amos study. There is still one more direction from where the missionary challenge came to Amos, compelling him to wear his skating boots, pack his suitcase with his Bible and slide down the road from Tekoa to Bethel!
6. The call from GRACES!
The Lalu of the Bible
To call Amos the Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Bible - that is what I’m tempted to do when I read his book in the Bible! Both Lalu and Amos had sheep rearing backgrounds. Both are awesome communicators! Yes Amos is so very creative when it comes to communication of Yahweh's truths to his Bethel audience! For example, God told him, "Go tell the people that judgment is inescapable! You can put it in your own language and style!"
That night, I imagine, how Amos racked his brains and stroked his wits to come up with an interesting form of expression of the same message God had given him. This is what he came up with: a story.
The eye-popping Lion-Bear-Snake Story!
Shall I narrate that eye-popping story to you: A man is running away from a lion; he runs and runs; he turns back - now the lion is no where in sight; he catches his breath and breathes easy; that's when he hears a bear howling; there is rush of adrenaline in his tired legs; he takes off again trying to escape the bear which was not exactly trying to give him a bear hug!; he runs and runs; he turns around - no bear in sight! I'm now safe, I am cocksure - he tells himself; he is dead tired by now having run from the lion and the bear; let me get some support for these dear legs of mine that has run a marathon with a speed of a Carl Lewis! - he thinks; he enters a house; I've got protection from wild animals and from the scorching sun - he thinks, before he leans on one of the walls of that house; guess what happens - out of the crack of that wall, a snake slithers out to strike him; he collapses thinking, "I thought I was safe - but wasn't!"
He made speeches to his goats, till one day….
After you have read this story you are probably saying, "Where is that story in the Book of Amos?" It is there in Amos 5:18-19. What you read was my version of the same story. You see - Amos had the God-given gift of captivating communication. But guess what - he almost did not use it for the Lord who gave it to him in the first place. Confused? Don't be. Here is how that could have happened: imagine if Amos had stayed as a shepherd; the only speech he would have given in such a setting would be to go "Dirrreaaaaaa; Come on goaties! Let's go!" day after day! All Amos did was to make speeches for his sheep! There was no scope at all for Amos to put to use his awesome God-given skill of communication by merely being a shepherd. I believe, one day, Amos told himself, “I will go to a place where I can use my God-given grace of speaking for His glory! I will speak to another set of sheep – the lost sheep (the people) of North Israel!" And that's when he set out for Bethel from Tekoa! And so in this way, the challenge to get involved in God's work came to Amos through his own God-given graces!
Sensitive to your gifting!
What are the skills the Lord has given you? And where are you working? Your skills will drive you to the place God has for you, if only you become sensitive to sense your gifting like Amos. And please for heaven's sake, don't tell me that you don't have any God-given gifts. If you say that, you are a liar. God has given at least one talent to each one of us, the Bible teaches (Math 25:14-15). And in line with those talents He has given us a task to execute His big Kingdom! Yes, God has assigned a responsibility to each one of us in accordance to the ability he has given to each one of us (See Rom 12:3-7)! A discovery of your talents and abilities should lead you to the place where you can execute the task and responsibilities God has called you to do!
Amos used the one life he had for the service of Yahweh. He was sensitive to detect the calls that came to him from different directions daring him to do something for His God. What about you? What will you do with the one life you have?!
Duke Jeyaraj, the author of this article, is a creative and loud-lunged youth evangelist who loves to write. Duke lives in Hyderabad and can be contacted using the email id,
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tatenda Taibu chose God's Work over a career in Cricket. That brings us to a question: how do we recognize the call for fulltime ministry in one's life? Duke Jeyaraj answers this question using the Bible Character of Amos, who quit his shepherd job to be a fulltime prophet-preacher.
| Comments |
|