What's the Plan

What’s The Plan?

By Robert J. Sullivan, PhD

Is It God’s Plan?

What Is Your Plan? Is it God’s Plan?

Copyright © 2022 Robert J. Sullivan, PhD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible,

English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing minis-try of Good News Publishers. ESV® Text Edition: 2011. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.

Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. Used by permission.

All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Bible. Accessed on Bible Gateway at www.BibleGateway.com.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard

Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975,

1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, www.Lockman.org. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International

Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living

Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard

Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

First Edition: 2022

What Is Your Plan? / Robert J. Sullivan

Title of Book / Author Name

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-951304-96-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-951304-97-3

Dedication

To Lea, Alec, Cole, and Caesar.

You are my true earthly and eternal calling.

Table of Contents

Close the Gap

Why or Why Not?

The Road Traveled By GPS

Everyone Has a Plan

Shame and Its Residue

The Comparison Trap 

The Comfort Zone

Instant Gratification

Consequences—What Can Go Wrong?

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

The Middle

The Original Title of this Book and Its Meaning

Chapter 1

Close the Gap

What if we start our journey with a story? I work at a university. Like many universities, we host preview weekends, where both parents and prospective students get a daylong look under the hood. I emcee Meet the Professors sessions as part of my responsibilities. High school students, parents, and faculty crowd into an often-overflowing classroom to get to know one another. My spiel stresses student-faculty connection, so everyone introduces themselves with some fun icebreakers. I conclude by splitting everyone into major groups, but never before noting God’s calling in their lives and emphasizing our role in helping them discover the divine design for their life.

Normally, these sessions devolve into small talk before everyone moves on to the next event. However, a few years ago, a Meet the Professors session failed to follow the blueprint. A father used the transition window to ask me a cutting question: Why do you talk about God so much? People are talking to me all day about faith but not education. What gives? 

He pointed out that he had devoted twenty years to the mission field, so his question was not coming from a secular humanist. Rather, he said, he was a concerned father seeking confirmation that tuition dollars would deliver a solid return on his investment.

My response? Well, I recall getting a little defensive, which allowed me to revert to my first language: sarcasm. "Yes, why would we, who represent a Christian university, talk about God so much?" My head spun with questions: Is he challenging our sincerity; does he think we are hiding something?

Bottom line, the man merely wanted assurance that his son would obtain a college education, graduate, get a job, and move out on his own. It is a fair expectation given the prevailing higher-education price tag. I refer to this as the commodification of higher education. This mindset identifies college as a tool for obtaining a fiscal accrual-driven credential, which is an accurate vision for college education. College serves as the bridge connecting childhood to maturity, and it is understandable that those toting the note would expect the service we offer to result in a gainfully employed, bill-paying adult.

The father’s vision was accurate—just not complete. His questions spurred hand wringing and large-scale reflection and, eventually, the book you are reading. 

As professors at a Christian university, we are in the mind-molding business, ala Romans 12:2. I want to be a top-shelf molder of minds, both young and old. But treating higher education as a product reduces the potential benefits to a list of marketable skills. Skills are critical, to be sure, but believers must also identify why God blessed them with a particular set of skills.

Treating Christian higher education as a commodity has a second drawback: it models the dualistic Christian life. You know the one where our Sunday-morning self remains separate from our Monday-through-Saturday self? The one that disconnects work from faith, and life from faith? The one most Christians pursue.

This is where the chili meets the cheese. Is a college degree a credential that primarily ensures employability and security, or is it a calling card for the expansion and greater impact of God’s Kingdom? 

I have spent a considerable portion of my career mentoring college students. College means fun! It also means angst. What does the future look like? What are God’s plans for me? What is my calling? How do you or I know God’s calling for our lives? When we examine how we spend our lives, how do we know we are following God’s calling? Tough questions.

This book does not answer these questions completely. (Sorry if you bought the book looking for such answers.) My theological training consists of six hours of Bible courses and a lifetime of Sunday school. However, you do not need an Augustinian level of scriptural knowledge to understand that every calling not only honors God (even lawyers and politicians) but also directly contributes to eternity.

My writing approach involves connecting with readers on a personal level. God bestows gifts and talents upon each of us to equip us to have an eternal impact. My goal is not to find definitive answers to these eternal questions but to help readers develop an eternal vision that merges calling and career, whether the daily commute ends at a construction firm, a diner, church, seminary, law firm, financial office, or home. And more crucially, stick to that eternal vision regardless of circumstances.

But how do you know your path is God’s will? And to what extent?

My wife and I support a friend named Elly financially. Armed with an ASL teaching certification, God called Elly, or Elly believes God called her, to serve the deaf community. In fact, Elly’s path led her to Honduras—and not just Honduras, but a rural Honduras community. She works with several deaf children who previously failed absent a support system. No support for a deaf individual often means no communication, and many of Elly’s students could not talk to their families or anyone else prior to Elly’s arrival.

How did Elly end up serving deaf children in rural Honduras? After college, she started teaching in a public school near her hometown. Two years later, she received a call from a wealthy Honduran family in need of a tutor for their deaf daughter. Elly felt God called her to make the move, so she resigned from a stable teaching job and moved to Honduras. The opportunity proved to be everything she had hoped for and more, but the family decided the child no longer needed tutoring once she reached a certain age. So that left dear Elly in limbo, which meant the Honduran experiment was ending. However, five families with deaf children in the small, tight-knit community reached out to her for similar help. Again, God’s providential bounty overflowed with riches!

But this bounty carried complications, with the chief challenge being financial. These families were penniless, with barely enough resources for food and shelter. Elly herself needed food and shelter, but this opportunity did not include compensation. She instinctively reached out to friends and family members to gauge the possibility of support. And while the economic realities Elly faced were daunting, the cost-of-living needs offered hope. Elly determined the subsistence level was less than $1,000 monthly, but she targeted that clean, round number so she might afford needed educational supplies. The Lord provided.

Elly’s Honduran season is reaching five years as you read this, with a bright future very much in play. She even started a nonprofit, which has seen fundraising numbers escalate. Of course, Elly very much realizes God could move her and continually prays that her heart and mind are only open to serving Him.

How Do You Know?

Does your story mirror Elly’s adventures? Or is your walk tame by comparison? Is that bad? Does God expect us to take more risks? After all, faith means jumping without a net, right?

What would God have you do?

The socioeconomic/work environment during the historical era of the Bible narrative fascinates me as a social scientist. Developing a better understanding of the ancient daily grind provides context for understanding the gospel narrative. The movement transcended class and wealth status, as servants could evangelize their wealthy employers or masters and vice versa. Additionally, the movement leveraged business networks and ports to spread the message.¹

The Gospels describe how Jesus recruited the disciples while also explaining their sacrifices. Luke’s account of Jesus recruiting Simon Peter, James, and John while they were fishing is a wonderful example. It is especially interesting to read the Gospels and determine how Jesus chose and recruited the disciples. These books also describe what the disciples left behind. What did the twelve sacrifice to follow Jesus?

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.  He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.

 Simon answered, Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. 

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!  For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. 

Then Jesus said to Simon, Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him (Luke 5:1-13, English Standard Version).²

This passage threads the needle. Jesus is directly calling the future disciples to step out on faith. Christians often struggle with interpreting God’s calling for their lives, but this is clear.

Most Christians struggle in identifying with scriptural figures such as the disciples. Do you remember hearing the stories in Sunday school during your formative years? Personally, it’s hard for me to envision characters from Sunday school coloring workbooks or puzzles as real people with real problems. However, Simon Peter, James, and John were real people with real responsibilities.³ Shows like The Chosen give us an idea of how real these guys were. The Savior approached them during their efforts to satisfy family needs, their financial burdens, and their business interests. This is a real-life example of what we are talking about in this book.

Luke is hardly the only gospel author detailing that Jesus called the fishermen to follow Him, but only his account