“Do you understand what I am saying, and why I have told you this story?” he asked at length. “You see, Thaddeus… Matthew, the point I’m trying to make is not that you should go and sell your possessions. Look around—I haven’t done that. God has not told me to. If he did, I would… but he has not. What he will tell you or me or anyone else specifically—it will be different for all of us. Different things stand in each of our ways to enter into kingdom living. For the young man in the story it was wealth, for me it may be something else, for you it will be something else again. But the point of the story is that such a time will come for everyone… including each of you too.”

“Are you saying that… now is such a time… for us?” asked Matthew.

“Oh no, by no means, Matthew!” replied the baron. “I mean, perhaps it is, perhaps not. I could not say one way or the other. I am not the one who sets the timetables for such things!”

“Who is, then?”

“The Spirit of God, working inside each one of us. He sets the season and the circumstances and the place and the hour. He alone. And when the moment comes, he makes it known, and he speaks to the inner ear of our heart as clearly as Jesus did to his disciples as they were walking along and as clearly as he spoke the word of challenge and commitment to the rich young ruler. At that moment, whenever and by whatever circumstances it comes, all of life hangs in the balance. The moment of decision has come. It comes to all sooner or later, and when it does, there can be no avoiding the confrontation.

“I use that word intentionally. Though it is gentle and quiet, though he will never use force or coercion or even persuasion, that it is a confrontation there can be no doubt.

“It is the moment when he stands before us, and we before him. The Master has come, he has looked us in the eye, and at that moment, though he uses ten million different sets of circumstances to utter it, the words are always the same—Follow me! When those words sound in our heart, there are only two paths to take: forward into life with him… or else to turn your back and walk away.

“But you can depend on one thing—that time will come in each of your lives. My reason for saying all this now is so that you will be ready when it does. I want only the best for you, for I have come to care about you and love you both deeply. Because of that I suppose I feel a certain urgency about all this, because of what the times may portend.”