The congregation I serve was in the midst of a week long Day Camp program. Four college-aged youth from Sugar Creek Bible Camp (http://wp.sugarcreekbiblecamp.org/) were with us leading our Kindergartners through 6th grade youth in a program of games, worship, Bible study, crafts, and general all around fun. In addition, we had about 10-15 Middle and High school youth helping. They worked with pre-school youth in the morning (9:00 - 11:30) and then with the older kids in the afternoon.
As happens every year, some of the helpers are not members of the congregation. They are friends of congregational members and they have done it in the past and know how much fun they have helping (and, since it's summer, they really don't have anything else to do!).
It was Wednesday afternoon and I drove two teenaged helpers home. They talked non-stop. They exclaimed the joy they experienced that day, some of the fun things they did, stories of helping the pre-schoolers. Then the 13 year old said: "Man I'm tired. I'm not used to having to get up by 8:00 in the summer."
I laughed. I asked him when he usually wakes up. "12:00 or 12:30" he said. And then this 13 year old unchurched boy who could not stop talking exclaimed: "But it's easy to get up early for this. Maybe that's what life is like when you have something you look forward to doing!"
Maybe that's what life is like when you have something you look forward to doing. Unfortunately there are too many people in our world who do not have something to look forward to doing. They might be unemployed or they might have a job; even a well paying job with great benefits. But they don't like what they do.
Dawn Trautman - a friend of mine - who has found her calling as a life coach, pointed me to a graduation speech by Jim Carrey https://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=694468. In his speech Carrey tells a story about his Dad who, for fear of failure, instead of becoming a comedian, took "a safe job" He was fired from that job when Carrey was 12 years old, and the family ended up doing whatever they could just to survive. But then Carrey adds: I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
Doing what you love...That's living joyfully. That's having something you look forward to doing. God has created each of us for a purpose. You belong to God. You are loved by God. And God wants to work through you to change the world. If you want help with the process of getting to the point where you do what you love and wake up looking forward to doing it, I encourage you to check out Dawn's blog and sign up for her ecourse - Big Picture, Big Purpose http://www.dawntrautman.com/onlineclasses.html
I've taken this course, and may do so again. It's life-giving, challenging, and well worth the investment of your time and money as you seek to live the life God intends for you - a joyful life that meets the needs of the world and gives you life in the process.
