To encourage young folks who are struggling with directions in their lives, I sometimes share my journey from being someone who had no clue what I wanted to or could do, to becoming a counselor, and in the end, a pastor.  Out of high school I did not know what I should choose as a major—I like psychology, but I was not too sure—until I took a psychology class, Personal Growth and Development, in my second year of college.  Out of that class I knew what I wanted to be: a psychologist. I’d say, right there and then I found my calling.

In his book, The Strangest Way, Bishop Robert Barron quotes the work of James Hilman who came up with this idea that we are “born with the seeds who we are destined to become planted within us.” He adds, “The success or failure of one’s life is measured according to the development or frustration of these seeds.”  Hilman calls this the acorn theory.  Had I not followed through with this calling and nurtured this seed, I would have missed my calling, and most likely I would have been drifting through life aimlessly.  I thank God for not only planting the seed in me, but also for giving me the opportunity to discover and nurture it.  And most importantly, I thank God for entrusting me with His work that requires the use of this seed. 

Many people grope through life not knowing the seeds planted in them.  I can understand what it feels like because for a period, I also was in the same boat. But there was something else that happened around the time I found my seed. During one of the Bible Studies, Dan Bice, my mentor from Campus Crusade for Christ, explained to me the purpose of life: To bring glory to God.  I still remember that moment of epiphany which brought not only clarity but also peace.  If the purpose of life is to glorify God, the kind of work I do wouldn’t matter as much anymore.  I could be a janitor and still bring glory to God.  Right there and then I found my mission; for that I thank God.

Pastor Paul