Weekly Reading

I recently made a decision to switch my quest of one higher degree for another.  Now deciding to leave seminary in lieu of a MBA is in no way similar to my decision to switch my undergraduate degree from Business Administration to Philosophy/Theology.  Ironic, yes, but similar, no.  Switching my pursuit is leading me to attend a different school, which is half way across the county, I've had to complete different prerequisites, I'll be leaving my family for 6 months, and ultimately changing the destination of where I wanted... or thought I was going with my life.  Or at least that is the presumption.

When deciding to attend seminary, and throughout my tenure at Fuller, I have been bombarded with questions centering around "What do you want to do when you graduate?" or "What do you want to do with your degree?"  Don't get me wrong, destination and/or direction are imperative in life.  They give us purpose while shaping what we do.  They allow us to avoid temptation, or at least not be as vulnerable to derailment.  With that said, I continually take offense with people's questions.  Why do their questions bother me?  Because they start with the word "what."

Scot McKnight says it better than me when writing 10 reasons people should go to seminary.  It won't take long to realize his predominant and overriding theme central to all 10 reasons is enhancement.  The enhancement, culminates in the tenth reason of "who and not just what" you become.

I realized a couple month's ago why the "what" questions (what do you do, what do you want to become, etc) bother me.  I had fallen victim to letting the questions define me, and was subconsciously rebelling against the notion of what I was achieving or working towards as a definition for me.  The answer to the "what" question, was and is only part of the puzzle I want to allow others to use to define me.  For this reason, it is my position that the "what" questions are the wrong questions, especially in helping me determine where I am headed.

The "who," rather than the "what," is what is actually important to me.  What I am doing or have done is only part of who I am.  The who I am, and who I am becoming is what speaks to my deepest entity, my identity.

Therefore, my path from business to theology and back to business isn't as crazy as one might think.  I realized early in my studies the way I do one of these activities impacts the way I do the other.  Just like my identity, there are multiple forces at work.  They are working interconnectivly in helping me become who I want to become.

It's for this reason I view seminary as a success, and look forward to the challenges that await me. People struggle to understand this, and I am okay with that.  My destination has never changed.  Others, myself included, might have presumed or been confused with my exact destination, but I am finally beginning to articulate what it is, it has been about the development of me.

Another low reading week has led me to leave you with five articles on fathers that caught my attention.

1. Where dads do "mom chores" daughters have un-stereotypical career hopes
2. What can "Friday Night Lights" teach you about being a father?
3. Why are Father's important? 25 Facts
4. The rise of hands on fathers