The thrilling, daunting "Now whats?"
The ongoing call to show up with curiosity and passion in a world that needs you.
The world needs your curiosity and passion.
This is the kind of statement that Deans at universities make to frightened Humanities majors who aren’t sure they picked the right career path.
I should know. I was on the receiving end of that speech.
I think it’s still true.
I studied English Literature. Yes, I was that student who received the inspiring speech at the beginning of each year of undergrad, as well as during my graduate studies. The running joke, of course, was that we were here because we didn’t really know what we wanted to be when we grew up.
School ended and the big question could no longer be deferred: Now what? What to do—not only with a degree but with life?
What’s a guy (or girl) gotta do?
God called to Moses through the burning bush. When the exiled murderer and adopted prince responded, a slave nation had its deliverer.
God called “Samuel, Samuel” in the middle of the night and when the miracle child of an overlooked family responded to the sound, Israel had a faithful judge and prophet who would lead the nation into a new era of possibility.
God through an angel called to Mary, and the womb of the virgin teen who society considered insignificant became the door through which God stepped into the world to make all things new.
The call is transformational. Responding to it can alter history.
The word comes from the Latin vocātiō which is defined as: A special urge, an inclination or predisposition to a particular path or way. We often reduce the concept to mean career.
It's wider than that.
It's more than a single role. It's how you show up in the world, what you set your heart and soul to. How you apply your passion and skills to opportunity.
Look what can happen when people engage life with passion and curiosity:
Now what?
Each of us faces this question, constantly: Now what?
It’s thrilling—but often daunting—how dynamic life is. How much change, how many deviations, how the page always turns over to a next thing.
When that big Now what? slapped me in the face, I called out into the void. With a bit of fear, with a bit of faith.
At that critical life moment when I asked the daunting question, the answer that came back was surprising. It was a simple verse from scripture that slipped into my heart, bypassing all the questions my mind was generating about career paths and all the worst-case scenarios of failure that filled the distance between my mind and my heart.
It was a verse from Luke that I can’t recall ever really noticing before. And it fell so hard and fast into my soul it stopped me, silenced me. In a paraphrase it read:
We being rescued from the hands of our enemy can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
~ Luke 1:73
That verse freed me up. And it still does today.
To see that God’s will isn’t an inch-wide tight rope that I could easily fall from to my doom, but a generous space of freedom where I need not fear was liberating.
Inviting.
Long story short, it led me on an adventure that ended up changing and shaping my life, in ways that are still unfolding. I often return to that verse, because there are so many opportunities. So many options. So many pathways in life.
If you’re facing a Now what? be encouraged by the words Zechariah spoke in the passage of Luke, words that mean so much.
They're especially significant because of the circumstances that preceded their announcement, words that came after years of seeking a specific hope—to have a son. Words that slowly formed in his muted mouth just as the embryo shaped in his wife's once-barren womb.
Sometimes it takes a detour or pitstop, soul searching and silence, the firm but needed reset from Heaven to see.
The world needs your expertise and belief. Your passion and your strengths. In a word, the world needs your help. Because there are a lot of problems to solve.
So, please continue to answer the call.