To Build Or Not To Build That Is The Question

I often see people at their work or talk about their work like it’s the worst thing in the world. They loath the very moment that they think about stepping into their work place. Now I have had some jobs over the years that I did not like in the least, and some of my greatest times of growth have come from those jobs, but the other night I was reminded how nice it is to do a job that you truly enjoy.
While at home I do construction. I started working construction after dropping out of community college and I have worked construction for five or six years now. I had even been running my own small little business for a year and a half before coming to school at Simpson. Now I like to work with my hands and I like to build things so I enjoyed construction but I knew the whole time this is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. However, I made good money doing construction, especially when it came to running my own business and because of such I was rather content to stay in this line of work. If it wasn’t for a little intervention from God I would still be doing it today.
The other day was a nice little reminder of going back to school to purse youth ministry was the right decision to make in my life. I have spent my break working for an old boss of mine doing some cake finish work for a house he is building. For me this is about as easy as work gets. But it only took two days for me to already not want to get up and go to work. After two days of work I was ready to be done with this. The day this happened the high school group from my church I help out with did an event where we drove around and gave out scarf’s and gift baskets to men and women who had lost a loved one this last year. I realized while driving around with a bunch of high schoolers that this is what I love doing. I love spending time with a bunch of crazy awkward loud mischievous fun-loving high schoolers. I love working with people, especially high school and college age students. This is something that I am excited to do and look forward to helping out with way more than I look forward to the next day of work, even though I don’t get paid. Don’t get me wrong I do like construction for the most part, and I have my days that I don’t love youth ministry, but as a whole youth ministry is where my passion lies.
Now youth ministry is far far more than just “hanging out with students”. There is much more that goes on behind the scenes that people never even realize happens. I was reminded that this is what I truly love doing and am passionate about. I know that youth ministry will never pay well finically nor will I rarely receive the respect that it often deserved but I love it. I am reminded how important it is to do something that you love rather than doing something that pays lots of money. It’s absolutely amazing to be able to glorify God just by using my gifts and passions to do what I love.
This reminds me of the words of Gil Bailie "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." We all need to find something that makes us come alive. I feel that as Christians we often make the mistake that if we are not in ministry than we are serving God. We often have this idea that those in ministry are doing all the work and the rest of us are just skating by. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I know for me youth ministry does not necessarily mean that I will become a youth pastor, it could work as a high school guidance counselor, or I could work as an RD of college even if it’s not Christian, or one of many other areas. What does matter is that we are using our gifts and abilities to glorify God wherever we are. I would encourage everyone to find out what their gifts and passions are and find a way to use those to glorify God because there is no better place to be. It is in that place that we find lasting joy and satisfaction in who we are and what we do.