What is my calling?

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet...

What is my purpose in life. What has God placed me on this earth for? What's up with all these weird talents that I have and how am I supposed to meld all of them together into some sort of lifestyle? I think this is one of the questions that Christians (especially younger ones) spend most of their lives trying to figure out. And if my experience is anything like most of you, ITS HARD! In fact looking back I spent so much time worrying if what I was doing was what God had planned for my life or if I was on a crash course with the edge of a cliff.....And the cliched "Pray about it" responses were not helping....I AM praying, but where is that {giant} pillar of fire, or that voice that shakes the ground, "Luke Sullivan you have been called to be a trash man." But it never came. {I'm kinda glad he didn't call me to be a trash man....}

But over the years, God has been changing my thinking on this. I finally came to this ground breaking discovery:  God wants you to do what you love. Wow, really God??? It might seem like such a simple thought to you, but to me it was life-changing. You see, my whole life I had lived under the assumption that there was ONE set strict plan that God had for your life. And if you weren't really tuned into to the divine calling channel and you somehow missed one of those divine answers, and picked the wrong college to go to, or ate the wrong flavor ice cream for July 4th that your life would be a failure. Ok, maybe failure is too strong a word, but in essence you would have missed out on what God wanted for you and he would be disappointed at you. And that's the last thing I want God to feel about me; disappointment...

So how did this new discovery change my perspective on life? Well let me use an example....
First off, I have never been a father before, so this is all speculation. And fathers, if I am totally off base let me know. But if I {were} a father, and I had a son, I would pour my life into him. I would want him to be the very best that he could be. And to be honest, when he was first born, I would have these awesome dreams of the man he would grow up to be. Well as he grew up, at the begging I would have quite a bit of rules, but as he matured I would pull back the control and let him make the decisions. Soon enough he would be a teenager and start his walk into independence, and he will have to start making decisions for himself. And although I would appreciate his asking me what to do on certain decisions, I would want him to make his own decisions. In essence, nothing would bring me more pleasure as a father than to finally see my son become a man and make his own decisions and be making the right choices. Now looking back, did he grow up to fulfill those dreams I first had for him? Probably not. Am I disappointed in him that he didn't grow up the way I wanted him to? Certainly not, he is an independent person who makes choices that make me proud to be his father......

Well in a sense, our heavenly Father treats us in the same way. Although he loves it when we turn to Him in prayer to ask what we should do, He also wants us to make our own choices. We are not robots. Choices are a part of life. And when we make the right choices in our lives and plot our course in order to bring ultimate glory to our Saviour in the forefront of out mind, then our Father could not be more proud of us.

So are you struggling in a career choice? Where should you go to school? What kind of pizza should you have tonight? Pray about it first. Then search the Scriptures. That is one of the biggest ways God will speak to us. But often the Scriptures doesn't tell us specifically whether to marry Mary or Jane. When you search the Scriptures and find that both sides of the issue are completely Biblical and in line with Scripture, then search your heart. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What are your passions, what drives you? And then GO FOR IT! No regrets don't look back. No second thoughts. Live your life with reckless abandon for the glory of your maker. Don't worry about whether or not it is the perfect plan for your life. Its the one your on right now, if its not where God wants you, He'll let you know. But remember, these aren't wasted times or experiences. They are a part of the grand drama we call life.

We have been called to be world changers, salt to the tasteless masses, light to the great darkness.

Now go and change the world. And maybe someday my grandson will read about your life in a book and he'll want to grow up to be just like you....who knows...

Snoopy