Pursuing My Calling, Part 1

A couple of days ago I left Sarasota, for a short time in one sense.  In another sense though, it might be forever.  Not to sound too melodramatic or anything, but I’m doubtful if I’ll ever live there again.  It’s not because of the people or the climate; as a matter of fact I loved both those things about Sarasota.  It has more to do with a calling to live overseas and start something new.

You see, I feel a strong calling towards third world countries and international development.  The crazy thing is, it’s a tougher life than what I’ve known in a lot of ways.  More importantly though, it’s where my heart is currently.  A friend of mine and I have often remarked that there’s a generational difference between our parents’ and our generation. 

Our parents simply did a job because that was what you had to do.  Our generation now wants a job to pay the bills as well as fulfill us because we love what we do.  Some might call that entitlement.  In my estimation a person who loves their job will outwork someone who doesn’t.  That’s probably good for productivity, right?

The past few years I’ve struggled to land as my dad puts it.  I came back from a round the world trip on my birthday in April of 2011.  Ever since then and even before something has been clawing at my heart and asking me to risk big in order to go and do something different.  Some, like myself, would call that Jesus.

It’s weird though when an atheist tells you to pursue your calling.  Apparently atheists have callings too, at least in this generation.  Another person told me I should do what I did in the summers because I always came back so happy.  Again, he wasn’t a Christian as far as I could tell.

Back in the fall of 2008, I accompanied a friend to the starting Saturday of her grad program.  There were a couple of reasons for this.  One was that she was studying something I had just learned was even a degree and the only master’s degree that ever appealed to me.  Two was that the opening day was going to be an 8 hour session by none other than Tony Campolo.

Dr. Campolo is a wonderful teacher and lecturer.  It was a delight to hear him talk about international development and the need for it.  He said some things that have stuck with me to this day, five and a half years later.  The main one was the following, “You’ve heard it said if you feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you feed a man a fish, you feed him for a lifetime.  But I ask you, what if there’s no pond?”

That struck me like a lightning bolt that day.  I would spend the next few years wondering about the answer to that question.  It would haunt me during the stillness of the night.  It would haunt me on mission trips where we felt good about what we were doing but I started wondering if we were actually helping. 

This was influenced of course by the book, When Helping Hurts that threw myself and everyone else in the Christian community for a loop I dare say.  If it didn’t mess with you at least a little then you were probably missing something.  The basic premise is that a lot of development work people have been doing has actually enabled people instead of empowered them.  This is a major problem.