Either Way, God Cares

Phil is an old friend of mine. In fact, we grew up across the street from one another. Well ok, the truth is that he is my younger brother’s age, and for most of those early years I didn’t want anything to do with my younger brother, let alone his friends. I have matured quite a bit since then.

Phil lives across the country in Seattle. Both he and his wife have worked for a certain software giant located in that area. In true relational style, I only contact Phil when I need something from him (FAW needed new software). A few months ago, I emailed Phil to see if he could help. I didn’t hear anything for awhile, and then all of a sudden a note came from him saying that the software was on its way. I wrote to ask him how we could thank him, and he responded with this email:

Here in Seattle we are marching steadily to the pulse of Beau’s school, soccer, little-league, play-dates, etc. Natalie will start kindergarten next fall and is eager to be arranging her own play-dates after school. I think, at that point, we can kiss goodbye any hope of keeping our house in order. We’ve not been doing well up to this point, and I think full capitulation will be our next step.

We are in the midst of a battle to save our small, very old, but high-performing elementary school from the district chopping block. Rather stressful since we don’t know what we will do if it closes.

For me personally the big news is that, more than 20 years later, I have returned to flying and am taking lessons with an eye on a possible career change. So, if you should feel a great disturbance in the Force, I guess that would be me making a landing the wrong way. However—so far, so good.

No need to put Bill to work on our taxes. It is fairly straightforward. I hope the software helps you do the things you need to do. If your mission is successful—particularly in terms of being a moderate Christian voice in the wind during this current storm of religious blowhards—then that is success for us too.

Back to Phil and his email in a moment.

My Call

Last issue we looked at call from God’s perspective–how do we define God’s call? In this issue we look at personal call. Our use of call has always been with a ‘big C’ and ‘little c’. Call can have to do with large things like job changes and relationships; but also small daily life decisions that need to get made. It has to do with how we spend our energy, how we use our gifts, what we do to give ourselves a sense of meaning and to make the world a better place.

Back to Phil

In Phil’s email, I hear the reason we exist. I hear a person who is trying to use his gifts, make the world better, and do it within the chaos and complexity of daily life. Clearly there is the call of parenthood. Phil’s children are a part of his call, and everything else he does needs to work around the ‘marching steadily to the pulse of school, soccer and playdates’. (Note: As one with two young children, I am amazed that full capitulation has been delayed this long.) Call isn’t something that needs to be done after the kids are put to bed. For those with children, putting the kids to bed is a part of living your call.

Secondly, there is a call toward the community. In this case, it takes the form of rallying around a ‘very old, but high performing elementary school’. There is self interest there—I assume that this is the school that Phil’s children attend. But it also goes beyond them—is not high performing schools something that we all want for all children? Others in the community will benefit from Phil and Peggy’s battle.

Thirdly, Phil is considering larger job changes. Sometimes we feel some inner tug to make larger shifts. We become restless in our current work and sense that there might be a kind of work that would better use our gifts or passion.

Phil is not a churchgoer. I’m guessing the last time he was in church was when he came to hear me preach when I was in Seattle. (I know he was there because he came late and left early to avoid getting cooties.) The institutional church is not something that Phil feels invested in. But ‘moderate spiritual voices’ is something he cares about, enough to support FAW in its mission. There are many many people like Phil who don’t feel connected to church. The reasons are diverse and multifaceted. It does not mean that they are not spiritual people who want to make a difference.

Closing Thoughts

FAW believes that the world improves as people respond to the various calls in their life. For some it is clear that it is God calling. In others I hear a yearning for a more meaningful existence and a desire to make the world better. Either way, God cares.

Doug Wysockey-Johnson is the Executive Director of Faith At Work. He, his wife Kathryn, their daughter Isabel Marie, and their son Soren William live in Richmond VT. Read about his call and vision for his journey ahead.