This is a very real question for the arena in which I work. Adolescence is now said to extend from puberty into the late 20's (some say even early 30's). These are precisely the people I hang out with every day. And the age group to which I belong.
From the 14 year old boy named David in Boulder who asked me, "You could do any job in the world, but why did you choose to work at a camp with kids?" to the 18 year old senior in high school who has applied to college but has no clue what to major in.
From the 20 year old sophomore in college who has changed her major 3 times already and is still confused as to what she wants to do to the recent college graduate who has his diploma in hand but no vision for what to accomplish in life.
This is the reason I do what I do. It's also the reason we are about to launch the KIVU Gap Year. Students simply are disillusioned about what to do with their life for several reasons.
1. They haven't felt enough bumps and bruises in life to find out what breaks their own heart.
2. They haven't lived in a community (of peers and adults) that see their gifts and purposefully and verbally encourages them to pursue those skills.
3. They have not learned how to integrate their faith with their future profession. They still think that doing labor for Christ means being a missionary or pastor. They don't realize that this work can be fulfilled as a doctor, lawyer, business woman, engineer, teacher, etc.
4. They don't know what it is that breaks their heart.
5. They don't realize that God actually has uniquely created them to accomplish something beautiful in this broken world.
6. They haven't realized that their greatest pains could become their greatest passions.
The KIVU Gap Year will open its doors next Fall 2010 to afford students the opportunity to wrestle with these questions in a community of like minded believers who can help them discover their passions. To see how it fits perfectly in to their faith and who God created them to be. To see it on a global level.
We don't have to have a Gap Year to navigate these questions properly.
But we need community. We need bumps and bruises. We need to feel the
pains in this world in order to foster our passions. We need to navigate through these real life questions. We need to see a bigger
picture of Christianity than just a personal ticket to heaven and a way
to manage personal sin. We need to see it as awakening our passions, engaging
our world, and being the hands and feet of Jesus.
So to turn this whole blog post in on myself, I must ask "Luke, why do you do what you do?"
Well, when I truly started following Jesus I realized that his Kingdom was to come to all the earth. Suddenly I saw that my world was a bit larger than just my neighborhood. I was ready to drop everything, sell it all and live in a hut in Africa. Be my own Mother Theresa.
But then I would not have been myself. God had gifted me in working with the youth of America. He had given me a passion to be in the outdoors and to be active and adventurous. And he knew it would be more beneficial for me to show even just a few students how to answer the above questions and go out into the world than if I were just to disappear off the map and do my own thing. Honestly, I never planned it all out. I just kept navigating through the fog of all the above questions.
And that's what we need to be able to answer the question, "What should I do with my life?"
We need community to bring about discovery.
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