This week we have guest author Clark Vandeventer President and CEO of World Changers Inc. , He is married and has one son. Clark is a public speaker and great friend of mine enjoy.
How am I supposed to know if I am in His will?
One of my all-time favorite movies is Jerry McGuire. In fact, I have thought about this movie and the parallels between myself and Jerry McGuire over the past weeks and months very frequently. On a recent flight from Washington, D.C. I was even reminded of a cross country drive with my good friend Todd Bushong while I was in college. We were sitting in the backyard of the people we were staying with and it was late at night. I told Todd that I thought my own life would sort of play out as Jerry's had. Great success followed by a deep searching. I had no idea--I mean absolutely no idea--how prophetic those words would be. I've applied many lines from the movie to my own life recently, but when I read this question there was a totally different line that came to mind. Jerry and Dorothy are out to dinner for the first time and they're telling stories about their wounds of the heart and soul. And then Dorothy interjects: "maybe love should be easy." What she was saying is that when you love someone, it's easy to love them... because you love them. Maybe God's will should be easy. That's provided that we are walking in the light. I'm reminded of the line in Isaiah where God says that we'll hear his voice saying "this is the way; walk in it." I believe that when we are walking with the Lord He guides are steps and works everything out according to his plan. There's another line in Scripture that reads "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." I know this is true not just because it is the Word of God, but from sheer experience. I believe God loves watching us make our plans. He loves seeing us dream and seek to serve Him as best we can. And then He determines how that actually plays out.
When I take a step forward, have I sought the Lord in whatever step that is?
I think one of the hardest questions we face in life is this: "Is it a test or is it a sign?" Hopefully we do pray about moving forward or in a different direction in life. And we all know that there's something in us giving us little cues that light the path (sometimes the light seems dim). When obstacles come it's hard to discern at times whether this is a sign that we are not going in the right direction versus whether God is testing our commitment to the path we have chosen. And, to make this all the more complicated, we should be aware of the fact that the enemy can open up incredible doors for us. Sometimes, when opportunity knocks, it's the devil. This is why we pray not only when we are about to step forward, but continually.
How do I discern what the Lord's plan is?
The Holy Spirit.
How do I choose my career? Or second career?
The Bible is full of promises, but we should remember that many of these promises have clauses. For example, the Bible tells me that the Lord wants me to have the desires of my heart. And it tells me that He will answer my prayers... provided that I pray according to His will.
Rob Bell addressed this question of career and vocation in one of his Nooma films. He said that in choosing a career people often ask "what do you love" but that an equally good question to ask is "what do you hate?"
When you see injustice do you feel hatred toward that injustice? Perhaps you are the person to bring justice.
How can I effect the World for the Kingdom?Be in the arena. Teddy Roosevelt wrote that the credit does not belong to the critic, but to the man who is in the arena; the man whose face is marred by blood and sweat and tears. Being a world changer is about bring salt and light to the corner of the world that you live in and living and working excellently. Christians should be the absolute best artists because we know and have within us the ultimate beauty. We should be the best businessmen because we have the ultimate example of servant leadership. Ken Blanchard states that the goal of his company is 6.8 billion people served everyday by leading like Jesus. And I am convinced that the institutional church, no matter how important and how vibrant it is, cannot accomplish this goal. 6.8 billion people do not go to church everyday. Nor can the church led enough missions trips to reach 6.8 billion people everyday. And even if we could, our impact would only be on the surface. But 6.8 billion people live in the marketplace everyday. In America that marketplace may be very advanced but the marketplace exists just the same in every corner of the globe.
World Changers Inc. (
www.worldchangers.us.com), for which I serve as CEO, is committed to adding meaning and value to the marketplace. We often say that we're committed to "connecting people to things bigger and more lasting than this world."
We operate on the premise that all men and women have a soul and long to be spoken to at a deeper level, but that so much of the modern marketplace only speaks to the most carnal aspects of our humanity. Is there more to life and sex and designer jeans? We believe that there is. And we believe that it is in meaningful customer experiences that we can take common things and make them sacred by using them to advance the Gospel.
