Good afternoon from Austin, Texas, where it is HOT… hot to the tune of 101 degrees. This makes it a bit difficult for me to contemplate exploring Austin in the manner to which I am usually accustomed when in a new city, which is to wander around aimlessly until I hit a tourist spot. I’ve heard the Texas state capitol is lovely to tour, but unless I catch a bus I don’t want to get out.

Actually, I’m in Austin right now for work. I am part of a planning team for a vocational discernment retreat sponsored by Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary for college students. The retreat theme, “Drop on Inn,” will allow people to explore Frederick Buechner’s well-known quote, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” We’re thinking about not only exploring that in terms of understanding yourself and where your deep gladness lies, but also in talking about how we can be more aware of the world’s hunger around us.

The retreat will be January 27-29, 2006, here in Austin. The seminary would like to see people outside Texas come, so there should be travel stipends available if you’re interested. Plus, the actual registration fee will only be something like $25—pretty doable in my book.

Our planning team had a great conversation this morning, one that really provoked me to think about my own understanding of vocation and call. Some members of the team really challenged the idea of vocation as that one specific life task God is calling you to do. For example, the context in which I went to college promoted this idea that God created you for one specific purpose. If you miss that purpose now, you’ve missed the boat—basically you’re going to spend the rest of your life scrambling around being miserable, trying to find your way back to that one thing. Of course, this produces many anxiety-filled nights of prayer, wondering if you’re on the right path.

Yet perhaps, my colleagues suggested, vocation isn’t about finding that one particular thing you’re destined to do with your entire life. Perhaps vocation is about finding the next step, what God is calling you to do right now. Maybe God has many different plans for us, many possible paths in which the Holy One could use us to promote God’s realm. If I work in faith-based non-profits for the next ten years and then go for a PhD in Christian ethics, for instance, was one of those choices invalid in God’s book? Or are both these professions callings from God specific to a particular point in my life?

I have become increasingly aware of how often we’re guilty of shortcutting life—we refuse to live with the daily bread that God promises us, and instead demand the loaf to last us a week. Yet just as God only gave manna to the Israelites to last for one day, we can’t assume that our future plans today won’t just rot by morning.

Maybe vocation is less about playing “God detective” and more about knowing the gifts God has given us and the needs God has shown to us. Then, regardless of the situations we’re thrown into, we’ll know our call that transcends the moment and instead permeates our entire way of life.

“Give us today our daily bread.” --Matthew 6:11

Kelsey