Deep Foundations

The Importance of Deep Foundations

Growing up as a missionary kid, I always knew that the world was my oyster. I met people from all over the world! I travelled the world and had awesome experiences. I also did well academically and so I had many career paths open to me. The hardest problem was making a choice. What should I do when I finished high school?

If I chose to go straight into full-time missions work, was I being responsible with the brains that God had given me? If I went to university, how could I serve God there? And what to study – engineering, teaching, business, computer science, the arts and humanities? So many choices! What happened if I made a wrong choice? How do I decide?

These are questions that everyone faces as they grow up and choose their path in life. How do I balance my desire to serve with the skills and talents that I have been given? So here are some pearls of advice from someone who has been around a little while in life!

1. Start with your foundations! The taller a building needs to be, the deeper the foundations need to be. Make your relationship with God strong and deep so that you can grow taller and withstand the storms of life. A DTS with YWAM is a perfect way to do this, away from the distractions and temptations of regular life – just you and God.  Learn to know God’s voice clearly so that you aren’t dependent on others to give you wisdom and guidance.
2. Make the most of your single days – without a concern for a spouse and kids you can chase hard after your dreams. Be the best person that God wants you to be and let Him take care of your spouse. The jungles of PNG and streets of Bangkok are no place for children but the need in these places are great, if not young people, then who? God needs passionate and committed people to go to the wild and crazy ends of the earth.
3. Live without regrets. The average person will change careers 5-7 times in their lifetime! So don’t worry about being stuck in the one career for the rest of your life – most likely it will change. So today I’m an accountant, in 2020 I’ll be a teacher, in 2025 I’ll be a sociologist. 50 years of productive living should be enough time to achieve most of your dreams!

So what did I choose?

I was planning on studying engineering at university but decided to take 6 months out to focus on my faith, and do a DTS. It was so worth it! I realized that my passion was to understand people and to help them understand God’s truth, not build things.

After finishing my DTS I studied human resource management and sociology at university as well as another YWAM course in Biblical worldview. I then went on to help run the Biblical worldview course where I met my wife. In the struggles to build our new life as a married couple, for the next 7 years I worked as an admin assistant, coin distributor for a bank, customer service agent at an airport, pharmacy technician, pizza delivery driver and wedding photographer.

None of these careers were perfect or what I had ever dreamed that I would do, but at the same time I was doing a much more important job as husband and father. Now I have been working for 5 years as a bookkeeper for YWAM Townsville, making sure that our teams and ministries have the money they need to share Jesus around the world. And I’ve still got another 30 years (or more) of serving God – the wild ride with Him keeps getting better each year!

It all starts with having the right foundations that are deep and strong in God. I strongly encourage you to take 6 months to build your foundations and let God build your life into something that glorifies Him, wherever that takes you.

For more info on how to get involved, contact us on the form below!