from Ron Rose
March 3, 2008

Preparation

I opened Niki’s email attachment; it was her resume—the document that was supposed to get her an interview with a potential employer. She wanted me to evaluate it before she sent it off. The document was an impressive collection of bits and pieces of her adult life, including her education, training, skills, qualifications, and experiences. But on my second read it hit me; “this is a snap-shot of her past… a word-picture of her life thus far. In fact, add in a list of her relatives and it could be used as an outline for Niki’s Eulogy.

The only exception was a brief statement near the top of the page under the heading, “OBJECTIVE.” It was the sole indication that Niki is not finished yet. If I were looking for an employee, of course I would want to know Niki had the basic skill requirements and training necessary for the job, but more than that, I would want to know about her plans for the future. So, I suggested that Niki rewrite her simple one sentence “I want a job” objective.

“Niki,” I wrote, “how has your past prepared you for your next chapter? Tell me where you’re headed…grab my attention. Force me to want to get to know you. Give me a hint that you live for something bigger than yourself.”

I remember what God told Isaiah, “Forget the former things…I am doing something new, don’t you see it.”

Niki is just beginning to face the fact that she is stuck in a routine with lots of activities and projects, but little risk and wonder and no adventure. Her life has been more like a runner who’s been in training for the big race… running efficiently and effectively on the treadmill, but never getting anywhere—never running the race. For Niki, it’s time to forget about the past and look to the future.

How about you? Got a great resume, but a lackluster objective? Is it time to get off the treadmill, time for something new?

Inspiration

There is an apocryphal story arising from one of the early expeditions to the North Pole. In that “top of the earth” snow-white region, it is very important to stay on course. Without landmarks of any kind in this white wasteland the explorers had to trust their instruments.

So, every hour they stopped to take readings and chart their progress. However, within a few hours out of camp they noticed a strange phenomenon. Their directional instruments were easy to follow. However, when they stopped and took readings the positional instruments indicated they were actually getting farther away a way from the pole.

Thinking the reading was a fluke, they continued to move forward. The next reading had them still farther away from their goal. Regardless of their determination to stay on track and their speed in the “right” direction, they were getting farther and farther from the Pole.

How could this happen? Was it someone’s version of an elaborate practical joke? Perhaps they were in a North Pole extension of the Bermuda Triangle?

Finally they discovered that some distance back they had moved onto an enormous iceberg that was drifting south faster than they were walking north. They were doing everything right, but moving in the wrong direction.

Motivation

What’s next for you? So you’ve got a great resume filled with lists of accomplishments and education. You may even have seminary training, years of preaching, perhaps you’ve whole books of the Bible commented to memory. Through it all, you may still be stuck in the resume with nothing pointing to a future. Are you OBJECTIVE-less? Do you find yourself living in a rerun of the past?

Are you are writing a new objective… a new version of life built on the wisdom collected along the way? Are you looking for something new?

It’s time to muse a bit… Think again about what a faith giant with your resume would say about his or her OBJECTIVE.