Career Choices

Forgive me, but I want to share some more family news. The career choice of children is always a concern for parents. We want them to have a job that they like, yet one that is practical and can earn them a living. As Christians, of utmost concern is that they see their job as a means of fulfilling their higher priority of making Christ known to others.

For David, early on we saw his patient attention to detail, problem solving ability, and quickness in understanding math. With his quiet personality, computer programming was a natural fit. Sara was in her senior year of high school when Jan enrolled her in a 2-week portrait art drawing class. Her skill surprised and amazed us. We focused her creative talent in the direction of computer graphics and now she has a job she enjoys. Hannah inherited Jan’s sharp memory. Like Jan, Hannah learned to love and appreciate history. Thus, Hannah is now a history major.

One of the advantages of home schooling is being able to design their curriculum to augment their career bent. For the past couple of years, I have watched Jonathan become our ‘go-to’ repair person, especially anything that is electronic. Broken appliances and computers became an exciting puzzle to solve. Now, his room is littered with copper wires, circuit boards, power boxes, computer chips, and computer peripherals.

After a little research, I learned about the CompTIA A+ exam, a worldwide accepted entry level test for those entering the field of computer repair and maintenance. To see if this was his bent, I bought Jonathan 3 college level, 1000+ page books on the topic, and signed him up to take the 2-part test on October 8, a test that even some self-taught professionals are reluctant to tackle. Remember, Jonathan hates schoolwork, loathes writing, abhors math, and even finds a way to fail handwriting. Well, on Oct. 8, he passed both 2-hour tests! He is now a certified computer repairman, and his room looks like it. I reckon we’ve discovered his bent.

During our cancer adventure, Martha listened as Mom and Dad (mostly Mom) talked about clinical trials, nutritional therapies, systemic treatments, anatomical functions, naturopathic medicine, pharmaceutical remedies, and a host of other medical related topics. Health education became an easy interest for Martha. While not yet inclined to be a doctor, we noticed that Liberty University offered a Health Educator degree.

But more research showed that job opportunities for ‘health educators’ are few, and tend to be more record keeping and phone interview type jobs rather than person to person jobs, which Martha, an extrovert, prefers. However, nursing jobs are plentiful and the demand keeps rising. For the past several weeks, Martha has been assisting our good friends, the Lockharts, in caring for an older lady dying of cancer (see the end of my last blog entry). One day, Martha spent nearly the whole day just fanning her (they have no money to pay an electric bill). She returned home that evening energized and fulfilled.

This week, Martha has been assisting a medical mission team going out into rural areas and caring for those with health needs. Martha has been the pharmacist for the team and has thoroughly enjoyed the ministry and the interaction with people. So, sounds like a natural born nurse to me. With Martha’s compassionate and joyful spirit, I think she will make a good one. Liberty University offers a nursing degree, so it seems that’s the direction she will go when she starts college next year.

To have a career direction for Martha and Jonathan is a big relief. Now my prayer is that they, and all of us, would understand that our real priority in life is not the job we have, but “in all our ways to make Christ known” (Prov. 3:6). Only then does God promise to “direct or paths” as we “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” That’s the reason He keeps us on this earth. That’s the reason I’m here. Pray that I, and my children, will be faithful to this highest of callings.