A Personal Calling, or Vocation

A Personal Calling, or Vocation

Vocation—the difference between work and putting your passions into action.

Yes, I labored, getting up early before the sun and sometimes working an overnight shift at the community’s magazine Cornerstone. Volunteering outside my other volunteer hours. You see, the work was not compensated monetarily. We worked together for the benefit of others and basically for room and board. It is a complicated kind of communism where ideology is supreme and we corporately strived to see that the greater whole grew, got better. It is a concept almost entirely archaic. No one does this except maybe a recent grad taking a gap year—except this was no grand tour or backpacker’s dream trip; we wanted to share Christ’s love in action by providing meals, housing, relationship. Ourselves.

Outside of the practical work of feeding the community (sammies, kitchen crew) I did visitations to the elderly, in the form of light housework and wellness checks, taking them to the doctor, etc. and helped with the Neighborhood Meal or Free Store. There was no lack of outreach opportunities. In fact, it wasn’t considered work or outreach, but living. The stuff of everyday life, what it meant to live in Uptown and at Jesus People. Works of love.

Growing up I’d always been embarrassed by my parent’s hypocrisy, disturbed by what I considered mediocrity. The idea of middle class left a bad taste in my mouth. Why be normal when one can be exceptional? I had a picture of myself that involved living life to the fullest—not bubble-wrapped or window dressed. Not only did I push myself out of a comfort zone, but my lifestyle challenged my parents and everything they valued.

Some of this was youthful audacity/folly, counter-culture, reactionary, some was an authentic attempt at living out the Sermon on the Mount/the Golden Rule/what some call Karma 

It is the difference between a temporary stint, gap year, seasonal work and a serious commitment to mission. Vocation. It’s what separates the spiritual tourist who goes on a two-week outreach to Honduras to build houses and the missionary who dies with their boots on in the jungles. That was me—I discovered I was in it for the long-haul.

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