Working unto God

School has been underway for a couple weeks now. Its amazing how something becomes easier the longer you do it. By this time a mere three years ago, I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake and gone into the wrong career field. It was one of the most trying years in my life, but God was faithful and carried me through to the end of the year. The second year was a little easier, and the third even more so. This year is the first year however, that I finally feel like I know what I am doing. I can take precautions in order to prevent the classroom management problems that happened all the time during my first year. Something else that I have felt is that this is something I can see myself doing for a long time.

I keep thinking about a verse I heard in a Louie Giglio sermon not too long ago. Colossians 3:23- 24 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

I love how that verse says “Whatever you do.” There’s freedom in this verse. Whatever you choose to do, whether that’s teaching, being a doctor/ nurse, secretary, janitor, fire fighter, garbage collector, waiter/ waitress, etc, we are called to do that work unto Christ and not unto man. God doesn’t say, “here are the acceptable career fields you can go into.” Louie points out in his sermon that God doesn’t expect all of us to go into the mission field, become pastors, worship leaders, song writers, Sunday School teachers, etc. It is possible to serve God in a career field that isn’t necessarily directly tied to a church. In fact, the “church” isn’t the building we meet in… instead it’s the body of Christ- us. We can represent the body of Christ in our careers.

With that in mind, I want more than ever to represent Christ in my classroom. I want to make God look good when people see me work. It’s Him I’m working for. Wherever you work, whatever you do, remember who you’re working for. The retirement benefits are great 🙂

 

A letter to me, from myself 5 years ago…

After a wonderful evening with friends tonight, I came to my folk’s place to find a letter waiting for me on the dining room table.  When I picked it up, it immediately struck me that the hand writing on the envelope looked eerily like my own writing.  Then I saw it was from my high school.  I suddenly remembered back in my senior year, my english teacher had us write letters to ourselves in the future.  This was that letter!!!  The thing that made reading this letter so powerful was that I have essentially turned out the way I hoped to back then.  Here’s what I wrote:

“To John Degnan in 5 years,

Hey!  I am writing this letter 4 days before graduation.  I have just survived 4 tough years of high school,and accomplished a great deal.  I am getting ready to attend Pima Community College and major in elementary education.  My main hobbies right now are running for track (our 4×800 relay team is going to state tomorrow), playing bass guitar for the Worship Thing at church, teaching Sunday School and being a youth group leader.  My goals are to be an elementary school teacher someday, and maybe a youth group leader as well.

These last four years have been amazing! I’ve maintained a 3.8 GPA, played soccer, track, cross country, and played in orchestra and jazz band!  I have an amazing group of friends that I go out and do stuff with all the time. 

My proudest moments thus far have been performing in orchestra regionals, going to state in soccer and track, and finally telling people I got a girlfriend. 

There have been some disappointing times.  My grandpa died sophomore year… I got a D in calculus 1st semester of senior year… I got a C in government… I had my first break- up… but these are all overshadowed by all the good times I’ve had, and all the friendships I enjoy.

I hope when you read this, you are either doing well in college, or are well on your way to starting your career.  I also hope you are surrounded by good, God- loving Christian friends, and I hope that you are well- liked by everyone you know.  I hope your faith is as strong as, if not stronger than my faith is now.  Lastly, I hope you are happy and content.  May God bless you in all your endeavors, and may you continue to be His faithful servant.”

John Degnan Friday, May 14, 2004.  Written at 12:22 PM. 

It was so amazing to read this letter.  What was even cooler was realizing how much of it has come true.  Man!  To think it has been 7 years since I graduated.  God has brought me through so much since then.