Calling -- or not
Man, three weeks! -- how've you been? ... There were a whole list of things I meant to write about; some are probably still worth posting, we'll see. "When no-one's listening I've got so much to say..." But OK, here are some pix you might enjoy. For a Sunday School class on Vocation and Calling, it was my turn last week to trace the path of my so-called career. 
I figured expectations were for a nice, tidy "testimony" so I chose not to pretty it up with a happy ending, a clear theme, or any confirmation of divine providence. 
(So there!) Instead, I introduced my story with the two pictures you see here [click for a closer look]. (*) Then, inspired by a great xkcd cartoon, I traced a graph of my "Sense Of Calling" over time (a.k.a. Eagerness to Answer The Question, "So What Do You Do?"). This parameter (green line below) peaked at about age 18; plummeted in graduate school; stayed low through several dark "all but dissertation" years; swung wildly in the year before I finally finished my thesis;
rose gradually after school, and has declined steadily throughout my current job. (I know -- what a narrow, one-dimensional way to depict life's complexity... But I'd never told the whole gory tale before, so I needed a simple, robust structure to lean on.) In red dots, I also traced my degree of "ministry engagement" over the years (pardon my dualism): this ebbed and flowed through various roles in student and small group ministry; laid low for several years after school; and saw a recent resurgence in a biweekly "worship laboratory" that led me to breathe deep of "emerging church" oxygen.
Are any of the above "my calling"? Um... Check back in another decade; maybe I'll know then. In conclusion, I showed a (surprisingly lifelike) portrait of me by Dylan (now 6!). I love the facial stubble, the dark circles around the eyes, the clumsiness of those hands -- but also its overall inquisitive tone. I'd like to think that's a fair summary of where I am right now -- equal parts ham-handed, off-balance, and hopeful.
(*) I was pleased to see the inimitable Ken Brown back in publishing, after a lo-ong hiatus. I need to preorder "My Parachute is Beige."
2 comments:
Dylan's work is really impressive. My pomo interpretation is that your hands are largish because he sees so much of them-- which says a lot about your engagement as a father. Also, your body looks like the cross.
Thanks! I'll pass along your compliments to the artist. As for the cruciform body and the many-petaled hands: these are a strong theme throughout his work.
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