Here I Am: Now What on Earth Should I Be Doing?

97 Pages·2005·0.86 MB·English

by  Quentin J. Schultze

© 2005 by Quentin J. Schultze
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
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Ebook edition created 2012
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eISBN 978-1-4412-3349-3
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To
Harvey and Annie Gainey
for helping so many young people
discover the greatest calling
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Listening to God
Knowing That God Calls
Identifying Our Vocation and Stations
Responding in Faith
Declaring Our Availability
2. Participating in Renewal
Joining God’s Symphony
Renewing “All Things”
Preparing for the New Heaven and New Earth
Recognizing God in Our Weakness
Admitting Our God-Given Strengths
Identifying Our Root Gifts
3. Succeeding Wholeheartedly
Opening Our Hearts
Putting Our Hearts into Our Stations
Avoiding Riches and Prestige
Monitoring Our Hearts
4. Caring Responsibly
Caring in All Stations
Being Responsible Owners under God
Caring with Excellence and Compassion
Caring for Self
Tasting Heaven on Earth
5. Celebrating Leisure
Contemplating God’s Love
Resting in Peace
Worshipping in Spirit and Truth
Living Prayerfully
6. Flourishing in Communities
Thinking Cosmically
Identifying and Addressing Needs
Fostering Work Reciprocity
Listening to Mentors and Mentoring Others
Respecting Work, Family, and Church
7. Loving for Good
Friendship—Sacrificing for Those We Know
Hospitality—Making Room for Strangers
Neighborliness—Helping All in Need
8. Offering a Legacy
Living Gratefully
Giving Generously
Reflecting the Face of Christ
Suggested Reading
Notes
About the Author
Back Ads
Acknowledgments
I
owe the most to God’s Word, the greatest source of wisdom about vocation.
I am also indebted to many Hebrews and Christians who have interpreted that
Word faithfully. I have borrowed special insights from Saints Augustine of
Hippo and Francis of Assisi, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Reformers John Calvin
and Martin Luther, and contemporary writers from Thomas Merton to Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. I summarize key sources at the back of the book.
Students in my Senior Seminar in Communication class at Calvin College
charitably critiqued the manuscript: Eric S. Evenhouse, Art Bamford, Brendan
Wright, David Neal Boomker, Emily Huck, Davis C. Watson, Melanie De Nooy,
Katherine Sikma, Cat Hoort, Jessica L. Vande Vusse, Ashley Payne, Becky Sletto,
Lisa Ryckbost, Lisa Van Grouw, Jacob M. Wilkoff, Julie Heerema, Anne
Plasman, and Derek DeWeerd.
Other friends and former students who gave me excellent advice are Gloria F.
Jea, Sara Jane Toering, Brad Van Arragon, Tom Schwanda, Ren Broekhuizen,
and Judi DeJager.
I owe a special debt to a number of Calvin College colleagues, including Glen
VanAndel, Kevin Dougherty, Steve VanderLeest, Wayne Wentzheimer, and
Hessel Bouma III.
Friends at other institutions also read the manuscript, sometimes with their
students: Tom Ribar of Waynesburg College; Paul Butler of Moody Bible
Institute; Tom Jones of Taylor University; Margaret Stowell Wheeler of
Cedarville University; Susan L. and Gerald J. Bisecker-Mast, Dan Fultz, and Hans
Houshower of Bluffton College; Timothy Detwiler of Cornerstone University;
Nelvin Vos of Muhlenburg College; and Darwin Glassford of Montreat College.
Bob Hosack and Stephanie Vink served me with joy and expertise as editors.
Paula Gibson steered the graphic design with vision and creativity.
The Lilly Vocation Project at Calvin College, funded by the Lilly Endowment,
Inc., awarded two grants that enabled me to write this book. I am grateful for the
insights of project associates Shirley Roels, Ron Rienstra, Ed Seely, Claudia
Beversluis, Laura Smit, Dale Cooper, Paul Ryan, Cindy de Jong, Shirley
Hoogstra, Beth Kok, and Miriam Ippel.
Barbara Schultze counseled me wisely, as always.
My parents, Theodore and Agnes, blessed me in ways that they probably never
recognized. God used even their weaknesses to nurture my faith and direct my
life.
Meanwhile, “Here I am, Lord.”
Introduction
D
uring thirty years of teaching and mentoring, I have repeatedly witnessed
how God calls, equips, challenges, and blesses faithful followers. Nearly every day
I hear from former students who are celebrating a new job or promotion,
tackling a difficult ethical dilemma, praising God for a spouse or child, or
lamenting poor professional and personal decisions.
I began thinking seriously about God’s call during my college years. As I
explain in this book, the result has been a professional and personal adventure.
According to the biblical pattern, God calls people like you and me to
participate in eternal plans. He wants us to reply faithfully. When we do, we
discover that God employs both our strengths and our weaknesses in the
“renewing of all things.”
Scripture and life experience both demonstrate that God calls us on two levels.
One is the vocation shared by all followers of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that
each of us is called to care for God’s world. The Old Testament defines this
caring as “being a blessing to others.” The New Testament focuses on “loving
God and neighbor.” God calls his people of all ages to be sacrificial care-takers,
not to selfish career-seekers.
The other level of calling includes each person’s many stations—the particular
places, relationships, and work in and through which a person cares. For
instance, our jobs, hobbies, and families provide stations. We might care as
parents, siblings, church members, and employees. Although our overall
vocation as caretakers never changes, many of our stations do—nearly every day.
God wants us to respond favorably to our shared vocation and to our own
stations so that we might flourish in community, serving others as they serve us.
Our calling is a lifelong process of connecting our shared vocation with our
individual stations. As Scripture puts it, we are called to “work out” our faith just
as God works in us.[1] In short, throughout life we need to ask ourselves how to
apply our faith to our stations. Answering that question faithfully is the daily
adventure in vocational living.
Throughout this book I use biblical examples, my own experiences, and