Launch Your Life.
You can’t tell me that this phrase doesn’t make you at least a little bit intrigued. Yep. I was sold the moment I was introduced to the author Kenny Silva and brand new book, Launch Your Life:A Guide To Growing Up For The Almost Grown Up.
This book is for those of us who are launching out into the “real world” and need some encouragement to go after job interviews and life’s nuts and bolts (as I talk about in Stress Point) with confidence and success. Check out my interview of Kenny… and…stay tuned for a giveaway of Launch Your Life!
~Kenny, can you give us a bit of background info on what motivated you to write this book?
It’s actually an interesting story. Though this book fits in really well with the kind of ministry I’ve been in involved with over the past few years, it wasn’t originally my idea! After having spent a year or so writing on my blog with some measure of success, I was approached by an old friend who I met while in college: Alee Anderson. While working as an editor at Thomas Nelson, she had the idea for a book aimed at helping college graduates navigate the tough transition from college life to real life. After a long process of back and forth with the powers that be at the publisher, they decided to move forward with the book and bring me on to write it. It was amazingly God ordained, as He literally dropped into my lap this opportunity to take the ministry I was doing amongst young adults and put it down on paper.
~What was your biggest challenge as you “launched your life” as a 20something?
I flesh this out in the book in greater detail, but one of my biggest challenges was identity. In short, I had no idea who I was. At 16, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. At 18, I wanted to be a combat medic. At 21, I was sure I was going to be a rock-star. At 25, I was on my way to becoming a real estate mogul. At 26, I felt like God was calling me to be a pastor. Somewhere in there, I learned that my value as a person and my true purpose on this Earth was not to be found in vocational success. After years of trying to define myself by whatever flashy occupation caught my fancy, God showed me that my identity was only to be found in the fact that He sent His Son to die in order to make me a Son of the King. Coming to grips with the Gospel and learning that answering the “who” questions about myself doesn’t have anything to do with answering the “what” questions about the circumstances of my life and vocation, but answering the “what” question about exactly what Jesus accomplished for me on the cross.
~As you interact with 20somethings, what trends do you see that hamper a young adult from successfully landing in the “grown up world?”
If I could answer that question from a spiritual perspective, its’ got a lot to do with what I mentioned above. In our American context, we’re often tempted to define our lives by way of the resume. I’ll never forget the scene in Batman Begins where the playboy Bruce Wayne is caught in a somewhat compromising position by his old flame, Rachel Dawes. In seeking to vindicate the motives of his heart, Dawes turns to him and says something to the effect of, “It’s not who you are underneath that matters, but what you do.” Sadly, many of the folks in our society have bought into that lie. The Gospel runs antithetical to the idea that what you do defines who you are. In the Bible, the understanding is flipped. Who you are defines what you do. “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil,” (Matt 12:35).
The implications that draw out from the spiritual perspective are intensely practical for the young 20-something. What would happen if instead of seeking your dream job in order to find your place in the world, you understood that God had personally paid the ultimate price to make you his own and that He had ordained every one of your days for His own purpose? What if your value wasn’t wrapped up in how successful you were in your career, but in the righteousness of Christ gifted to you on account of His work and not your own? What if you realized that every failure along the path, though rightly devastating in its own season, was put there for the express purpose of molding you and shaping you into who God has destined you to be? It’s when you come to grips with those truths that you’re set free to truly to step into the world and see what God’s going to do in your life.
~Many of my readers lately have expressed to me that their career (or lack thereof) stresses them out these days. What is your best piece of advice in regards to navigating the job search and interview process?
I tend to think more like a minister and less like a career coach, so if this response doesn’t quite scratch the itch I’ll be happy to do some sort of a follow up. Or, of course, you could pick up a copy of the book where I deal with some of this stuff in a more nitty-gritty, practical kind of way. For now, what I’d say is that you can’t lose perspective of what I stated above. God is not looking down on you and waiting for you to make the right moves in order to work your way into His will. You’re in His will right now. How could you not be? Though this season is probably the most intensely frustrating season you’ve ever experienced, God is at work. You may not see the fruit, but the Bible promises that, for those who are in Christ, it is growing. As you’re telling your story in job interview after job interview, remember that its not your story that you’re telling. It’s God’s story and its guaranteed to have a good ending. The intervening times ma be tough, but He is with you. Keep your eyes on him and you’ll stay above the water.
Are you not just so fired up now to go out into the “real world” and do life with Jesus as your main focus? I just love this advice.
Now for the giveaway of Launch Your Life…
Wouldn’t your friends benefit from this great advice from Kenny??
~Click the “share the love” button just above the comment box and share this blog post with your Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Or, pin the post to Pinterest!
~Leave a commment that you shared this article to be entered into the giveaway. I will randomly pick a winner from the comments on Friday May 31st.
More about Kenny:
Kenny is a full time REALTOR in Nashville, TN and is working on a Masters of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in pursuit of the Lord’s call to gospel ministry. He’s also the husband of a beautiful wife, the owner of an incredible dog, and the author of Launch Your Life: A Guide to Growing Up for the Almost Grown Up(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2013).
Read more from Kenny and find out how to get your copy of Launch Your Life at KennySilva.net
