How to Change the World

The Gathering tonight, was one of the best gatherings I have ever been a part of. Dr. Gary Burge of Wheaton College gave a slap-in-the-face, one of a kind, just-what -I-needed sermon on how Passion is what changes the world. In his research, Dr. Burge has found time and time again that in order to realize this passion, a person traverses through four basic steps.

1. Undeniable experience (Encounter)
2. Immediate gut-check (Paradigm shift)
3. Enviable focus (Passion)
4. Infections enthusiasm (Game-changer)

As a senior graduating in two months this idea of passion is something that I have been struggling with, hard. So many questions begin circulating in my head... What does passion look like for each person? Do you/should you find work/job/vocation within your passion? Is there such thing as an occupational calling? Is it irresponsible to purely follow passion? Should I first take care of financial obligations, secure a good future and then go after my passion? Is passion something that finds you or do you search for it? Does this passion need to be big or small? How can I make a difference? Can people like me really "change the world?" Is there such thing as a passionate person or are all people equally passionate? There are so many problems in the world how do I choose one?

Although I have already begun to answer these questions, there are many that are left unanswered. If there is such thing as a "passionate person" the people in my life have confirmed that I am one. I am fairly emotional and when I attach on to something, well let's just say you better watch out. So, lets say I have the capabilities as much as anyone else to be passionate. Great. Ok. So now what? I have been doing a lot of reading for classes lately and they seem to have at least helped me but none have helped me define what truly is my passion. 

Brainstorm: 

Children, youth, educational inequity, AIDS, Africa, Rwanda, orphans, poverty, hunger, preventable disease, prostitution, sex trafficking

But why? Why all of these things... and how do I choose within them? Dr. Burge centered much of his time around this idea of an undeniable experience such as the woman at the well in John 4: 1-27 had when she encountered Jesus. Many have this experience when simply getting your hands dirty, whether it be volunteering at a local church or spending 2 years in a tribal community in the middle of Africa. "Game-Changers" as he calls it, all have a similarity in that they experience something that strikes a nerve, something that they get a fire in their tiummy over, that haunts their dreams, consumes every conversation and is the topic of the majority of their thoughts. This moment or experience is what turns an ordinarily passionate person to a game-changer.