: courage and calling :

... I am realizing that I am going to have to categorize or classify my favourite &/or most influential books somehow. I've found myself in the last few weeks referring to at least 4 or 5 different books as my 'favourite' ... which can't really be, can it?

Anyhow, one of my favourites the last several years has been Gordon Smith's 'Courage & Calling' ... I came across it when Smith was teaching and dean of students at Regent College.

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with 2 staff leaders at 2 different homeless shelters on the mainland. One was the director at Lookout Homeless Society's Yukon & 5th Street facility, about 6-8 blocks south of Vancouver's infamous DTES ( Down Town East Side ). The other was a shift leader at Hyland House in Surrey, the residential arm of OPTIONS Community Services.

At some point in each conversation both communicated to us that they loved their jobs. I am thinking ... "wow, that's no small feat". So I got to thinking about it, and Dr. Smith's book came to mind ... and I realized again ... when that combination of calling, partnered with courage, actually intersect? Some profound things can happen. Here's a blip off the book jacket ...

"God has called you -- first to himself, to know and follow him but also to a specific life purpose, a particular reason for being.

This second call, to a defining purpose or mission in life, is often termed a vocation, from the Latin root meaning "calling." And while it has implications for your work or occupation, it also reaches wider. It includes your giftedness, your weakness, your life in community, what you do day to day. In this book, you are invited to discover your vocation by listening to God and becoming a coworker with him."

Hmmm,

dlc