Called? or Career?

I'm chuckling. Really. Right now I'm listening to a lecture from A History of Freedom from the Teaching Company. I'd been thinking about what to write about.

Since I've turned in my last-for-now contracted book, I'm back to wondering what God has for me next. Writing? Is it a calling? Is it a career? Then the professor, Rufus Fears, starts talking about the difference between a career and calling.

Career comes from a French word which means a road. A career is a road to something. But a calling? That's something more...isn't it? It's a calling from God. Something I am compelled to do because anything less is disobedience. But does that mean I'll write the rest of my life? There's the question.

I see stories everywhere I go. They hit me from all sides. I just need the time to develop them. But honestly, publishing is scary. Probably always has been, but I'm writing now. And as lines close, ebooks take off, and publishers adjust, it's an unnerving time to write.

But at church yesterday, someone talked about the fact that God has not called us to safe places to do easy things. Instead, we are called to dangerous places to do hard things. Sounds  like publishing. I've asked God to expand my reach...and that happens with writing. More people read my books than I could ever sit down and have conversations with. And stories have power. Power to communicate ideas that we wouldn't readily accept if addressed directly.

So I'm praying. Laying down my dreams and asking God to replace them with His yet again. Because if I'm going to live a faith that goes to dangerous places to do hard things, then I want to go with my hand resting firmly in His.