Visions of Vocation

Foreword Review’s Annual INDIEFAB Book of the Year FinalistOutreach Resource of the YearChristianity Today Award of MeritLeadership Journal Best Books for Church LeadersBook of the Year from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds BookstoreIs it possible to know the world and still love the world?Of all the questions we ask about our calling, this is the most difficult. From marriages to international relations, the more we know, the harder it is to love. We become cynics or stoics, protecting our hearts from the implications of what we know. But what if the vision of vocation can be recovered-allowing us to step into the wounds of the world and for love’s sake take up our responsibility for the way the world turns out?For decades Steve Garber has come alongside a wide range of people as they seek to make sense of the world and their lives. With him we meet leaders from the Tiananmen Square protest who want a good reason to still care about China. We also meet with many ordinary people in ordinary places who long for their lives to matter:Jonathan who learned he would rather build houses than study historyTodd and Maria who adopted creative schedules so they could parent better and practice medicine D.J. who helped Congress move into the Internet Age Robin who spends her life on behalf of urban justiceHans who makes hamburgers the way they are meant to be madeSusan who built a home business of hand-printing stationary using a letterpress Santiago who works with majority-world nations in need of capital George who has given years to teaching students to learn things that matter mostClaudius and Deirdre whose openhearted home has always been a place for peopleDan who loves Wyoming, the place, its people and its cowsVocation is when we come to know the world in all its joy and pain and still love it. Vocation is following our calling to seek the welfare of the world we live in. And in helping the world to flourish, strangely, mysteriously, we find that we flourish too. Garber offers a book for everyone everywhere-for students, for parents, for those in the arts, in the academy, in public service, in the trades and in commerce-for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.