Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, constant never-ending work.

Work never ends, it never stops, and it will never let up. If I've learned one thing in my life from my time in college, the Navy, and Seminary it is that I will never stop working. I've worked hard, I've slacked off, and I've done everything in between. This semester I have been taking a course in Hebrew which has been kicking my behind. The studying does not stop, between the vocab, grammar, and syntax that I have to dive into constantly I have little time for anything else. There have been times this semester where I did not want to study anymore at all.One specific time came to mind, I had been studying 75 Hebrew words for about 5 hours and for some reason could not remember them. I don't know why I was having trouble with them but I still do with a few of those vocab words. After about 5 hours I wanted to give up but I knew that I couldn't. So I prayed for God to help me with them. Instead of giving me the gift of tongues, (which would have been awesome) God reminded me why I was working so hard to learn Hebrew. I'm learning Hebrew so that I can better understand the Word of God, so that I can be a better pastor, and hopefully be a more effective evangelist.

This reminded me about the whole reason that I am here at Asbury Theological Seminary in the first place. I am here so that I can better serve God. When I was a youth pastor back in South Carolina I used to tell my youth that no matter what they were doing, (as long as it isn't sinful) do it for God. The Christian faith is not something that can be claimed and not lived. I would tell my youth that if they were skateboarding, to skateboard with God and tell the people that they were skating with about Jesus and their faith. I would tell them to go to school and do their best at school because they need to make school about God. Youth aren't the only ones that need to be told this either, adults need to be told this constantly. Think about it, when is the last time that you made your work about Jesus? Why do you work, do you do it because you need money or is it to serve Christ? Don't get me wrong we still need money in order to live in this society but we need to have a higher purpose as to why we do what we do. 

Make your life an act of worship.

Alex Gebert

Keeping God Central, and Vocations

One of the classes that I'm taking this semester at Seminary is Vocation of Ministry. Well I've heard some bad things about this class, but the semester is only a week in so who knows, I may like it. But that's beside the point, I want to talk about one of the books that I read for the class. The book is The Call by Os Guinness  is a fantastic book that focuses on the call that every Christian has placed on their life. Os Guinness states that every person has a primary and a secondary Call that has been placed on their life.

The first calling that every person has is a calling to pursue God as the center of all things in life. Guinness also says that our secondary calling is our vocation, which can be anything from full time ministry to construction. A lot of people get these mixed up, they put their vocation or in some cases just regular work beyond their first calling. The secondary calling is to be lived out in response to the first calling. The key to this is that the secondary calling, your vocation, becomes a "why" rather than a "what". For example, a person has recognized their gifts that God has given them and serves God faithfully by using them in his construction.

Believe it or not the very term "Work-a-holic" was coined to describe the way that many clergy members were obsessed with their work to the point that it was ruining their very faith. God needs to be the center at all things in a person's life, especially at the center of our earthly vocation.

What I'm trying to get through to you here is that through the pursuit of God in the center of everything that you do is where you find your vocation. If you follow and walk with God everything else will come in time. And if you already are in you vocation then please remember, your vocation is secondary, but following God must come first.

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the Love of Jesus"
-Mother Teresa

Thank you for reading, keep God central. (Read The Call, DO IT.)

Alex Gebert