"You Call Me Out Upon the Waters / The Great Unknown"

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://www.myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


Even the people who seem to have it all figured out struggle to figure it all out.

Did you catch that?

Even the people who seem to have it all figured out struggle to figure it all out.

Call it self-doubt; call it insecurity; call it aimlessness; call it restlessness; call it the dynamic property of calling.

I always thought that I was called to be a teacher. And for 9 years, I’ve enjoyed teaching high school English. Does that make teaching my calling? Not necessarily. Does that preclude a career change? Certainly not. Am I called to be a light in whichever circumstances I find myself? Absolutely.

On the outside, I think, I sort of look like I have my act together.  I’m married, my kids appear to be doing adequately (which is the most you can ask of parents of small children some days), I have a reasonably well-respected career, I own a home and take vacations and have friends. And every day I struggle to figure out what in the world I’m supposed to be doing.

When I was younger I had this idea that “calling” was a one-time deal. Static. I also thought that I would be called into one profession for the rest of my life and that would be it. All set. And I thought that calling was largely vocational—that one is either called into a career or to stay home with children and then it’s a done deal.

That view of calling is painfully simplistic, horribly selfish, and possibly even dangerous. Rarely are we called to live in a vacuum, where our influence is limited only to ourselves.

Calling seemed so “high stakes” when I was younger, like I had to somehow magically discern the will of God in my life and then get a college degree to do that thing. Oh, and then land an actual job in that field as well. What happened if I didn’t go to college? Didn’t earn that major? Didn’t get the job? Did I misinterpret the “still, small voice” of God? Would I need to start all over? A limited understanding of calling is burdensome. It breeds fear, anxiety, and self-doubt.  

Now I better understand calling as a mandate to have some effect on the world—to influence the world for the kingdom of God. Even people who don’t have the faintest idea of what they should “do” with their lives have influence, and that’s one of the reasons we have hope. Even in our floundering and aimlessness we still affect change all around us: with our friends, our families, in our dorms or with our housemates, with our teammates and classmates, with our colleagues and in every other facet of our lives. We have the opportunity and the obligation to be gracious and kind and to bring peace and restoration along with the truth of Jesus everywhere we go.

[Kristin vanEyk lives in Kentwood, MI where she attends Encounter Church with her husband Dirk, and two kids, Lily and Colin. Kristin teaches high school English and otherwise passes the time reading, writing, running, and enjoying all that Michigan's West Coast has to offer.]