Spoke at the Westmont Urban Program in San Francisco yesterday. It’s the second time that I’ve been asked to speak to the students toward the end of the semester. The topic is faith, calling and vocation. An interesting subject for a guy who’s put in about half my time in the for-profit world, and about half in the non-profit world. So I talk about that and share how we’re called to live in the tension of the two. We must be comfortable in both the world of the poor and the world of the rich, then find a way to translate the two. That is a unique calling for those who walk with Christ, I believe.
The Q&A time was especially fun. One student asked how I found the balance between wealth and charity. That is to say, when do I draw the line at excessive living? I had to admit that the question is something I think about everyday. There is no real clear answer to that, and it is something we work out in our lives as we attempt to walk with Christ. I wish there was a simplistic answer: give so much to charity, only live on so much, don’t drink expensive champagne, never fly first class! But it’s not that simple, and I don’t think God wanted us to have such guidelines. As I said, it’s about living in the tension.