So What Do I Do with My Life? By Rev. Mark Buetow
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hen I was in high school, I wanted to be a professional pilot. Maybe I would be an airline pilot flying a 747 or perhaps a corporate pilot in command of a Gulfstream jet. I remember taking a career counseling test that was supposed to help me figure out what my skills and interests would suggest for a career. It wasn’t hard to answer the questions so that “pilot” was on the list! (As was “farmer” and “person who makes artificial limbs!”)
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In college, after becoming very active in our campus Lutheran church, I decided during my sophomore year that I would no longer be a pilot but would go to seminary after college to be a pastor. So I changed my major to history and headed off to seminary. Also during college, I met my wife, and we were married just before my senior year. It turns out I left college with a whole bunch of vocations or upcoming callings that I hadn’t even considered when I started! As a young man looking forward, it seems that my choices were all about what I wanted to do and be and accomplish. I remember a poster my friend had of seven really fancy cars in front of a mansion with the title “Justification for Higher Education.” I wanted to go to college to get a job and make a lot of money. Even when I went to seminary, it was all about my wanting to study theology (which interested me) and to be a person who could help others (whatever that meant). Still, the choices I made were about me and what I wanted to do. But looking back, I can see now that the Lord was working things out to put me where He wanted me to be, doing what He wanted me to do, to serve those He wanted me to serve. Even as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, the Lord put people around me in their callings and vocations who helped guide and direct me. That’s why, as Christians, we talk about more than just “careers” or “jobs” or “relationships.” They are called “vocations” for a reason. It’s because the things we are given to do in this life for others are given to us by our Father in heaven. He calls us to these vocations so that we may glorify Him and serve others in many and various ways.
