Vocation and Direction — The Long Arc of a Life

Teens are being asked to make consequential decisions about college, work, relationships, and direction with less cultural support than any recent generation — the old scripts have weakened and nothing coherent has replaced them — and these studies help teens think about their lives in something longer than the next semester or the next decision. They open up Christian vocation as more than career: the difference between calling and ambition, and the biblical witness on God's particular care for the shape of a particular life — Jeremiah known before he was formed, David anointed as a shepherd boy, Mary's vocation, Paul redirected on the Damascus road — engaging the real choices teens face without becoming a career-counseling session. And they take seriously the Bible's surprisingly extensive teaching on money and ambition, framed for a generation formed in constant, largely invisible exposure to wealth and lifestyle comparison — the rich young ruler, the parable of the rich fool, the widow's mite, "you cannot serve God and money" — keeping the deeper question in view: what shapes the heart, not what's in the bank account.