My guess is that you came here expecting get the necessary tools to enter a profession. In other words, you anticipate becoming a professional. I hope you get there. My profession has been highly rewarding for me. That said, if becoming a professional is the goal of your time at APU, I think you have missed the point of Christian higher education. Instead, I would argue that your aim while here is to become (and remain forever) an amateur.
An “amateur” is “one who does something out of love.” Thus, what I have in mind as the goal of education is the discovery of some area of study that is so intriguing, compelling, and beautiful that you cannot help but love it. If you find such a subject, you have the raw materials for discovering in a new and deeper way the God who is the source of wonder and beauty. This, in turn, allows us move toward an understanding that we can worship through our scholarship and eventually through whatever profession God draws us into.
In the educational process, we talk a lot about the development of our minds and skills, as we should. Unfortunately, we generally do not think of education as an erotic process, but that is exactly what it is. While here, we should have our desires (eros) directed toward that which is truly desirable. Thus, if we rightly understand God as the Maker and Lover of all creation, it seems that our proper response is to love all that God makes and loves. For Jesus’ disciples, then, the first step toward becoming professionals is to achieve amateur status.
http://www.apu.edu/theology/
Steve,
I like the sentiment of your post and that you encourage your students to pursue something they love so much that it does not seem like work. People who follow that logic will lead a blessed life and often times financial rewards come too because it is easier to excel when you love what you are doing.
Blessings
Mark