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his father’ s donkey( 1 Samuel 9:3). David was tending sheep( 1 Samuel 16:11). Peter, James, Andrew, and John were fishing( Matthew 4:18-22). Paul was persecuting the church, like the good Pharisee that he was( Acts 9:1). For most of these individuals, their calling to partner in the mission of God in a new way came while they did their ordinary work. God spoke to them in the midst of their everyday faithfulness. And they paid attention.
1 Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential, rev. and expanded ed. [ Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011 ], 51
2 Brad Bell, A Dislocated Heart: Nehemiah 1:1 4, sermon, The Well, September 4, 2009, https:// thewellcommunity. org / podcasts / sermons / nehemiah-a-dislocated-heart
3 Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’ s ABC [ San Francisco: HarperOne, 1993 ], 95
Taken from When Work Hurts by Meryl Herr. Copyright 2025 by Meryl Ashley Cantley Herr. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www. ivpress. com
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Meryl Herr( PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the owner of The GoodWorks Group LLC, a consulting firm specializing in educational program planning and evaluation. She previously served as director of research and resources at Fuller Seminary’ s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where she conducted research and created resources to help Christian marketplace leaders integrate their faith with their work. Meryl lives with her family near Athens, Georgia. 11