{"id":2366,"date":"2011-09-20T18:49:33","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T22:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2014-07-21T10:16:13","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T14:16:13","slug":"making-college-count-part-4-selecting-your-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/making-college-count-part-4-selecting-your-major\/","title":{"rendered":"Making College Count \u2013 Part 4: Selecting Your Major"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you want to be when you grow up?<\/p>\n

Our local university, Purdue, has nearly 200 majors<\/a> from which one can choose.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think \u201cMedieval and Renaissance Studies\u201d sounds like a solid game plan for a career path? I just know the Medieval Times franchise<\/a> is going to be the next Starbucks success story. I\u2019m sure there will be one on every corner.\u00a0 Philosophy may be another great option.\u00a0 Students have all sorts of opinions to philosophize about.\u00a0 They just need to find people to give them money for their opinions so they can eat throughout life (no offense Medieval or Philosophy majors).<\/p>\n

With 200 majors from which to choose, students can become lost in the maze of choices.\u00a0 Have you ever caused a waiter to keep coming back to your table because you couldn\u2019t decide which food you desired?\u00a0 The dizzying list of menu options present you and your frustrated waiter with no minor dilemma.\u00a0 On the other hand, why do students complain that they can\u2019t find something they like and enjoy?<\/p>\n

A variety of options, however, is not the problem.\u00a0 In my experience in working with college students, I believe one primary issue leads to indecisiveness.\u00a0 Many wavering students have bought into this wrong expectation: \u00a0\u201cMY career\u201d should be what satisfies me.<\/p>\n

A Career Does Not Provide Ultimate Satisfaction<\/h2>\n

Teens hear this refrain about a future career, \u201cYou must find something you love to do and do it!\u201d\u00a0 What if I love video games? Movies?\u00a0 Not doing anything? Sports?\u00a0 Without any perspective, how would a typical self-absorbed teen interpret this mantra?\u00a0 Regularly focusing on what will satisfy me breeds discontentment anyway (Prov 27:20).<\/p>\n

A Career Enables the Deployment of God Given Skills<\/h2>\n

A career is simply a tool for an individual to deploy his God given skills to advance God\u2019s plan on this earth through righteous relationships, meaningful productivity, and compassionate provision for others (family, church, and society).<\/p>\n

A career is simply a\u00a0tool\u00a0for an individual to deploy his God given skills to advance God\u2019s plan on this earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>This definition should be freeing to us all.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to find the ONE thing we can do to make us happy (only God satisfies anyway; Ps 73:25).\u00a0 Students must be taught to discern their skills and use them in a variety of ways to fulfill their purpose in life.<\/a>\u00a0 Os Guinness states, \u201cGod normally calls us along the line of our giftedness, but the purpose of our giftedness is stewardship and service, not selfishness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover you can use your skills to fulfill your purpose in more than one specific job choice.\u00a0 Statistics show that you probably won\u2019t stay in the precise field of your college major for life anyway.\u00a0 So don\u2019t impose an artificial limitation on yourself. God does not care as much about what you do (i.e. your precise job) as much as He cares about how you are stewarding the gifts and abilities He has given you.<\/p>\n

What If I Don\u2019t Know My Skills?<\/h2>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great if your birth certificate came with a description of your skill set?\u00a0 My life would have been much easier if my birth certificate read, \u201cBrent Aucoin, male, born on July 20, 1968, capable of critical thinking in theology, science, math, management, problem solving; able to effectively disciple young men; but also more capable of manifesting pride resulting in the fear of man and worry hindering the effective use his strengths.\u201d But God didn\u2019t design the discovery of our skill set that way.<\/p>\n

Do Something!<\/h2>\n

Is it really surprising that you must actually DO something in order to discover your skill set?\u00a0\u00a0 You must be involved serving, participating in meaningful work, volunteering.\u00a0 You must try and succeed. \u00a0You must try and fail.<\/p>\n

I have never found people who are actively engaged in working, volunteering to tackle projects, and serving, who really question what skill sets they have.<\/p>\n

So, remind yourself of your purpose.\u00a0 Get busy doing something.\u00a0 Talk to a variety of people.\u00a0 Discover your God given skills.\u00a0 Determine how they (and a particular major) can be used to further your serviceability for God and others. And go for it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you want to be when you grow up? Our local university, Purdue, has nearly 200 majors from which one can choose.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think \u201cMedieval and Renaissance Studies\u201d sounds like a solid game plan for a career path? I just know the Medieval Times franchise is going to be the next Starbucks success… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[257],"tags":[4447,4427,4197,4289,4276],"yoast_head":"\nMaking College Count \u2013 Part 4: Selecting Your Major - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/making-college-count-part-4-selecting-your-major\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making College Count \u2013 Part 4: Selecting Your Major - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do you want to be when you grow up? 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