Friday, September 24, 2004

trapped

I can't run away from it. I have tried running away countless times, but it never works. You see, I want to be a youth minister. I really do. I want to prod others along to have a heart-to-heart love affair with God. And yet there is a stronger desire within me. While I want to go into youth ministry, my heart gives a faint leap when I think of what it would be like to study dinosaurs. You may laugh; after all, the two careers are completely off-balance. I used to think that becoming a Christian meant shoving the desires of the heart into a hole; I used to think sanctification was killing desires. No, killing desires is not sanctification, it is godlessness, a profanity, its own brand of wickedness. It is betraying our true selves for a false self; losing our uniqueness, our originality. So I am at a cross-roads. I want to study dinosaurs, but for all the world I can't because of my credentials to go that direction (these desires weren't meant for this world, after all, but Another). I am trapped between two paths. One is straight and yet in a vague way, murders the real me. The other looks like a dead-end, but it is where my God-given heart lies. What can I do?

3 comments:

Me said...

Why not do both?

While taking classes to study Paleontology (?) also take the classes needed to be a youth minister (one major one minor). Maybe do the dinosaur thing first and then always know that you can become a youth minister after you've followed your dream of studying the ancient reptiles. :)

Rochelle said...

Follow your heart Anthony but don't limit yourself by thinking it has to be one or the other or that you have to make that decision right now because you are a senior You will have alot of people giving you "their advice" on where to go to school, what to study, etc. this year Listen and keep an open mind but in the end follow your heart God will make it clear to you eventually what the right path is Maybe "shadowing" a youth leader would help I have alot of high school and college students who shadow me so that they have a better idea of what it involves to be a nurse and a diabetes educator I don't know if there are any paleontologists in Dayton :)

Anonymous said...

Try to follow your heart. You have always been interested in dinosaurs. Whose to say God will not use you somewhere where you would be working. Try to explore your choice of fields in the study and try a minor in religion as a minister. You could always try both. Get a degree in Palentology(sp?) with your minor in religion and who knows where God will send you to further HIS Kingdom!!!!!

where we're headed

Over the last several years, we've undergone a shift in how we operate as a family. We're coming to what we hope is a better underst...