What Do You Want to Do with Your Life?
Finding My Vocation: A Guide for Young People Seeking a Calling, William Boekestein. Grandville: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2024. Softcover.
If you’re of the same vintage as me, you may remember hearing the question in the title of this review from time to time in the mid-1980s, perhaps on CBC’s weekday afternoon show ‘Video Hits.’ If you don’t remember, don’t worry about it; we’re all getting old. Regardless, it’s a perennial question young people face. William Boekestein has written a practical and biblically informed guide for young people who might not have any idea what they’re going to do with their life. It may also be a helpful guide for those who do have some kind of ambition, but might want to give it a second thought.
William Boekestein is a United Reformed pastor serving Immanuel Fellowship Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He’s written several other books including books for children on each of the Three Forms of Unity. His articles have appeared on The Gospel Coalition website and elsewhere. He’s also slated to be one of the speakers at the upcoming Grace and Truth Conference here in Tasmania on October 3-5.
Says the author in the Introduction: “This book is meant to be a guide for young people trying to figure out what to do with their lives. This means it is also for the parents of young people” (p.6). It comes in three parts: Pondering Vocation, Preparing for Your Vocation, and Practicing Vocation. Throughout Boekestein applies traditional Protestant thinking about vocation to modern questions facing our youth. With each chapter, there’s also a real-life story of a Christian in the workforce, bringing it home.
Finding My Vocation answers many common work-related questions. For example, what about evangelism in the workplace? Boekestein writes, “The way you work must open rather than close doors to speak about Jesus. It is wrong to evangelize in place of working; stealing your employer’s time under the banner of religion does not ‘adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.’ (Titus 2:10)” (p.22). Or what about moving away from your faithful church for the sake of a job? What about changing jobs regularly? Should a mother work outside the home? What kind of work might I do on the Lord’s Day? On that last question, let me tantalize you with this tidbit: “We might actually profane the Lord’s Day, and miss the rest God wants for us, through laziness!” (p.72).
The book also continues five appendices dealing with other questions:
- What if I hate my job?
- Is my work compromised by sin? (E.g., can you stock shelves with harmful products?)
- Should I go to college? (College in US = university in Canada/Australia)
- Is military service a good option for me?
- Am I called to the ministry?
By the end, it really felt as if the author left nothing unaddressed. It’s just a concise book, but rather comprehensive in its scope.
Finding My Vocation would be a great book for parents to buy for their teenaged children. It could also be helpful for guidance counsellors to have on hand in Christian high schools. It might not be the miracle cure for teenage vocational indecision, but it’ll certainly point those with it in the right direction.
Originally published in Clarion 73.11 (August 30, 2024)
