Comments on: Bonus Room Do Over

By: emma

emma — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:59:46 +0000

“I’m not too concerned with what I am going to do. I am more interested in who I am becoming. I want to be a lover of God and people.”

By: kim

kim — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:07:28 +0000

This is great perspective. Sadly, this, rather than the ‘God exists so I can have a comfortable / successful / fulfilling / life” perspective, was a new revelation for me a few years ago, when I had already spent a bit of time tromping around as an adult. Needing a giant ‘undo’ button.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:32:00 +0000

Oh, those bonus rooms at youth retreats. One of my most unforgettable moments as a senior was during a retreat when our leaders commissioned us to a life of “quiet times” where we would read a small passage in the Bible every day and read a little paragraph from our devotional book. Then we would write a little something down about how it changed our life and go on our way to be merry little wonderful Christians. It’s taken me nearly 10 years to undo that bonus room experience. If only life were so cut and dry, or able to be put into a box. (Not dissing daily Bible reading, or journaling at all ... just the blanket formula for all mankind.)

Great post.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:23:16 +0000

I’m going to have to show this to my roommate tonight (the guy on crutches). It ties in perfectly with a discussion we had last night.

Heck, maybe I need to print it out and save it to reread every month or so myself.

By: Cali Amy

Cali Amy — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:22:27 +0000

Aw, it’s hard when you’re 16 and growing up in the evangelical community not to equate God’s will with the important career path decision you’re also trying to make at that time.

But your post is an encouragement to me. I often freeze in fear of doing the wrong thing.

Another way I’ve heard this is not to consider what God’s will for your life is, but rather, what is God’s will?

By: Shaun Groves

Shaun Groves — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:45:21 +0000

Thanks for that, Dave.

By: Dave Haupert

Dave Haupert — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:31:24 +0000

Very truly one of the awesomest of awesome posts Mr Groves. While I always enjoy your blog, there have been only a few that have been printed to share with my wife (she somehow hates when I show her things like Business Time, which I loved).

One of the others was a post where you decided to sell your house and downgrade so you’d have more time, income, energy, to help others. It was that decision that got the ball rolling for us, and about a year later we finally put our house on the market. Unfortunately, while you’re all settled into your new abode for some time now, our house is _still_ on the market. And while we continue to lower and lower the price, we keep wondering if this was really God’s will for us. As you said today, you hear about people who sell their house quickly and say it must have been God’s will. But I can’t see how God would want us to live in debt and work just to pay our mortgage so there is nothing left (time, energy or money) to give to other causes and efforts.

So, ahem, thanks Shaun- thanks for 2 years of house showings and the frantic cleaning and organizing followed by the mad rush out the door with 4 kids preceding each one of those showings. But thanks for reinforcing today what we’ve been hanging on to all along, that God’s will is not necessarily the yellow brick road!

By: erin

erin — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:07:51 +0000

What a great post. I think too often we focus so much on finding “that” job that will make us happy and wealthy and fulfilled that we neglect following Jesus. I know I need this reminder. Thanks.

By: shaunfan

shaunfan — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:01:14 +0000

Brian does seem to have a great way of putting things. He needs to post on your blog more. I agree with the advice you gave and especially about buying as little stuff as possible as we do become enslaved to our stuff.

Also, Brant made a great point with Matthew 22:37-39. Jesus doesn’t seem too concerned with our careers which again ties in to the point that God cares more about who we are than what we do.

As for your comment about not loving what you do, I think the fact that you are a soft rock star who blogs about God’s will means you do get the meaning of Matthew 22, which is that Jesus wants you to think outside of the conventional wisdom box about career having meaning more now than when you were an aspiring professional video game player.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:40:41 +0000

Amen.