A week before my college graduation, I dropped by a professor/mentor's office to chat about my Senior research project. After a few minutes of the usual academic formalities, the conversation slowly transitioned to a discussion about life in general.
My professor very candidly turned to me and asked, "So, what's your plans after graduation?"
After explaining that I would not pursue grad school (at least for the time being) and would begin looking for a job, he cracked a smile and gave me an important nugget of information that has stuck with me ever since.
He looked at me over his spectacles and said, "I hear Taco Bell is hiring."
While this may not be the most inspiring sentence ever conceived, the message behind it continues to plague the minds of Americans every day. We live in a society where the media constantly publishes stories about the failing economy, the bankruptcy of this nation's most popular corporations, and the loss of millions of jobs. For a college graduate like myself, this pessimistic view only allows fear and worry to enter my mind and corrupt my thoughts. I stand at a crossroads of life, wondering if my education was wasted.
Am I doomed to work a mundane job the rest of my life? How can I provide for my future family? Will my past choices make my life worthless?
During the past month of job hunting and desperately seeking God for guidance in my decisions, I begin to realized how selfish my previous requests have been. I am already blessed well beyond what I need or deserve. In fact, I am truly amazed that God continues to watch over my life even though I fail him day after day. It was then I began to realize that I was not put on this earth to grow up, make money, and die. I was specifically designed by God to serve a purpose in advancing His kingdom.
My professor very candidly turned to me and asked, "So, what's your plans after graduation?"
After explaining that I would not pursue grad school (at least for the time being) and would begin looking for a job, he cracked a smile and gave me an important nugget of information that has stuck with me ever since.
He looked at me over his spectacles and said, "I hear Taco Bell is hiring."
While this may not be the most inspiring sentence ever conceived, the message behind it continues to plague the minds of Americans every day. We live in a society where the media constantly publishes stories about the failing economy, the bankruptcy of this nation's most popular corporations, and the loss of millions of jobs. For a college graduate like myself, this pessimistic view only allows fear and worry to enter my mind and corrupt my thoughts. I stand at a crossroads of life, wondering if my education was wasted.
Am I doomed to work a mundane job the rest of my life? How can I provide for my future family? Will my past choices make my life worthless?
During the past month of job hunting and desperately seeking God for guidance in my decisions, I begin to realized how selfish my previous requests have been. I am already blessed well beyond what I need or deserve. In fact, I am truly amazed that God continues to watch over my life even though I fail him day after day. It was then I began to realize that I was not put on this earth to grow up, make money, and die. I was specifically designed by God to serve a purpose in advancing His kingdom.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The verse above is so profound that it literally vanquished every seed of doubt, worry, and fear in me. If God has placed me in this world with a purpose that he has already determined, why should I be afraid?
I encourage everyone out there who feels the strains of this economic crisis to fully rely on God. After all, your purpose, your reason for being alive, does not rest in your company, in your job title, or in how much you make a year. It rests solely on the man who died on the cross for your sins.
- Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
The verse above is so profound that it literally vanquished every seed of doubt, worry, and fear in me. If God has placed me in this world with a purpose that he has already determined, why should I be afraid?
I encourage everyone out there who feels the strains of this economic crisis to fully rely on God. After all, your purpose, your reason for being alive, does not rest in your company, in your job title, or in how much you make a year. It rests solely on the man who died on the cross for your sins.
God Bless,
Jonathan T.
