Vocation

A few years back I preached a sermon about vocation. I pulled it out the other day so I could preach it to myself. The text was 2 Peter 1.3-11. The passage is bracketed by the word "call." It makes sense to sort out the differences between who we are, our jobs, our vocation, and our sense of God's calling. These are overlapping ideas, of course. That's what makes sorting it out kind of difficult.

It's pretty easy, probably normal, to define yourself by your vocation. It's one of the first questions we ask when we meet someone new. After we've exhausted the conversation about the weather, we usually ask "What do you do?" It helps put the person in some sort of context. But what if you're not doing anything at the moment?

What if we asked instead, "To what are you called?" I think that's a better question. That's the question I need to answer for myself at this point. When I can answer that question, it's going to make mapping out the next steps a lot easier.

This morning I had my first meeting with a career coach. I came away with a strong sense of hope. This process of assessment, resume preparation and placement is going to be a great adventure. I'm excited about the pursuit of a position that will involve the right match of my skills and giftedness with the work to be done. My prayer is that this process will be at least part of what God uses to help me define his call on my life.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us..." 2 Peter 1.3

One should hardly complain

I caught myself yesterday. It was Day One of my journey. I was telling a friend that it was the first time in my working life that I had woken up with no place to go to work. But my friend hasn't been able to work for several years. It wasn't one of his better days to start with. I'm sure I didn't help.

I've been blessed. Two jobs in 30 years, and a seamless transition between those two. Thanks for that, Lord. This is a strange place to be in after all these years. I have said to a couple of people that I know God is sovereign. I know that in my head. I need to know it in my heart. As one would expect, I'm experiencing all sorts of emotions from grief to positive anticipation. I expect I'll feel less of the first and more of the second as the journey continues. But in between there is a little fear, some uncertainty, and hope.

Day One consisted of getting stuff shuffled around in the house. I hauled a lot of things home from the office, including a bunch of books, a file cabinet, and two wooden tables that Karen's dad helped me build a long time ago. It was therapeutic to stay busy with that for the day. Day Two included the dentist, the library, placing a call to a career coach, and setting up a blog.