If you've ever daydreamed about alternate paths or wondered how you can find peace in today's rat race, this book is for you. You can find your true calling where God's grace and the daily grind meet.
Many of us follow a seemingly arbitrary and rushed path to a paycheck. Once you're out of school, whether it's high school or college, you're expected to go to work. You work hard to pay your dues. Then, one day, you feel stuck. You feel restless and like a mercenary…the "it's just a job" mentality. Soon, these feelings of alienation and cynicism spill over into the rest of your life.
Clapper goes beyond the usual career counseling formula in Living Your Heart's Desire. He explains why it's more helpful to understand the theology behind work, calling, and human freedom. You'll discover a variety of visions of what it means for you to lead a life of Christian faithfulness in all realms of existence. You'll be equipped to understand yourself as a Christian in the workforce as well as understand how to be content — no matter what you do for a living — among the discontented.
"We must ask if the life we are living is a worthy expression of gratitude for what God has done for us," Clapper writes. "Our most important response is the shape of our entire life. It is, in short, our vocation."
Easy to read and relevant to today's economy and world (with many references and lessons from movies), this book can help you lead a more fulfilled, rewarding, and joyful Christian life — regardless of how you earn a paycheck. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this perfect for small group discussions.
Learn to see your "Office Space"-like world as a Spirit-filled and vital calling in Christ. As one reviewer has said, Living Your Heart's Desire will help you "understand the connection between faith of the head and faith of the heart, as well as the next step on your faith journey." Take comfort in knowing that God has a plan for your life. Revel in it.
Gregory S. Clapper is professor of religion and philosophy at the University of Indianapolis. He is one of two founding directors of the Lantz Center for Christian Vocations at the university, initially funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. A graduate of Carthage College, Clapper received an MA in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and an MDiv from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He earned a PhD from Emory University. Clapper also completed the Upper Room's Academy for Spiritual Formation and Walk to Emmaus. Clapper taught at Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama, and served as the senior pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, Waverly, Iowa. Clapper also served as associate professor of Religion and Philosophy at Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa. He's the author of numerous articles and two other titles with Upper Room Books: When the World Breaks Your Heart: Spiritual Ways of Living with Tragedy and As If the Heart Mattered: A Wesleyan Spirituality.