Calling

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Reimagining 'Called': Two alternate covers

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Reimagining 'Called': Two alternate covers

It was about a year ago that Jen and I were getting ready to sit down for dinner at our good friends' Todd & Emily's home in North Carolina when I saw the first artwork for my book cover. It was a surreal moment.

I'll be honest, before seeing the first cover designs, I was afraid of how it might turn out. 

What if I don't like it? I remember thinking. What if it looks nothing like what my book is actually about and I have to go back and ask them to change it? I don't want to be that guy.

Fortunately, I was thrilled with how the artwork turned out. 

Plans Vs. Calling: What's the difference?

What's the difference between making plans and following those plans versus discerning and following a calling? Or is there even a difference? Is following a calling simply placing a divine stamp of approval on our own plans? (Which just might be the ultimate Christian trump card.)

That's the question I consider in an article I wrote for the current issue of Bible Study Magazine.

Being Called ≠ Self-Seeking Suffering: Flipping the divine, radical-adventure motif

What does it mean to be called? More specifically, what does it mean for the Christian to be called?

Does it mean being called to a radical, life-changing adventure? There are a number of recent books that seem to suggest that's exactly what it means.

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Frederick Buechner on Calling: Your Deep Gladness & The World's Deep Hunger

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As I noted in a recent post, Parker Palmer has some rich thoughts for those asking questions about vocation and calling in his book, Let Your Life Speak. As much as I appreciate Palmer's work, I think the Presbyterian minister, novelist, and memoirist Frederick Buechner helps move the conversation forward.

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Parker Palmer on Calling: That Which You Can't Not Do

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Parker Palmer on Calling: That Which You Can't Not Do

I was a freshman in college when I first read Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak, which is as good a time as any to think about questions of vocation and calling. As the book's leaflet puts it, Palmer's book is aimed at "illuminating a pathway toward vocation for all who seek the true calling of their lives."