day jobOne of my biggest influences is a guy named Jon Acuff. Jon (I can call him Jon because I met him once for twelve seconds and he’s tweeted to me. We’re BFFs now.) is a writer, speaker, and a lot of other things. His claim to fame was a little blog I discovered in college called Stuff Christians Like. A guy was making fun of Christian culture while I was in school at the Christian culture capital of the world? Yeah. I’ll read that.

The crazy thing about SCL was that it was amazingly popular while Jon still worked a desk job. Once the blog started taking off, Jon started getting invited to speak at churches and small events. He tells stories of leaving work on Friday afternoon, flying to a weekend speaking engagement, then flying home only to go back to work on Monday morning.

Eventually Jon was able to leave his boring desk job and chase his dream job. Since then he’s written four books in four years, quit his dream job to chase his real dream, and become one of the most popular speakers in the country.

One of Jon’s first books was titled, “Quitter: Closing The Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job.” In the book, Jon talks about how to go after your dream job without quitting your day job right away. The end goal, however, is that one day you do quit your desk job for your dream job, but only after a time of preparing and planning.

No offense to Jon, but I’m beginning to wonder if you even need to quit in the first place?

What if we’re supposed to do those desk jobs to allow us to do the things we dream of doing? What if God’s put us in our vocational roles because, believe it or not, we’re really good at them? That doesn’t mean we can’t also be really good at other things. In fact, I’d be willing to bet there are many things you’re better at than what you’re paid to do.

Our day jobs are the catalyst to doing the things we’re called to do. There are some out there who are lucky enough to have jobs tailored to exactly who they are. For most of us, our jobs only fulfill a piece of all we’re designed to be. They touch on just the edge of the dreams in our mind. They pay the bills so we can chase after our unique calling.

To change the world, we can’t put God into this tiny box that says for us to be who he created us to be, we have to get paid for it.

To change the world, we have to run after who he created us to be while leveraging where we currently are.

I love where I’m currently at. I’m having more fun in my job than I’ve had in years. I’m creating some of the best art I’ve ever created. I’m getting paid to do something I love and am good at.

But if I’m honest, if I was only doing what I was paid to do, I would be miserable.

God’s called me to more than my 9-to-5 desk job. He’s called me to write. He’s called me to teach. He’s called me to be a part of a church plant while living and working 100 miles away. If I only did those things when I got paid for them, I would never fulfill my calling.

What has God called you to? How has he uniquely wired you? What role was crafted for only you to play? Are you willing to do it even if you don’t get paid? Why not?

Chasing after our calling is hard. It’s scary. And more times than not, it’s confusing. A year ago I never would’ve thought I could go after what God has called me to without it being in my job description. I’m learning every day that I can be fully committed to a day job while being fully committed to my entire calling.

On Thursday, I’ll have a few tips on how to chase your calling without getting fired from your day job.

Say your prayers and take your vitamins.

Have a nice day.

-Jonathan