Mentor blog #1

             My mentor, Mrs. VanHuis, is the mother of my friend and former debate partner. During my time debating with her son, my mother and I grew quite close to her. Mrs. VanHuis has the ability to offer a very unique perspective. She spent her childhood and early adulthood as a nonbeliever. During her teen years, however, friends introduced her to Christianity, and she soon became a follower of Jesus. She entered into the field of early education, but later decided to become a stay-at-home mom in order to homeschool her two sons.

             I entered into the conversation with the intent of focusing on the topic of vocation, thinking that it would be interesting to hear the perspective of someone who had chosen to forgo a typical career in order to educate her children. During our discussion of vocation, some interesting ideas came to light. We talked about the well-known concept that different people's life experiences equip them to evangelize to different people groups, a fact that emphasizes the importance of recognizing evangelism as a task intended for everyone, not just for those who have gone into the field of ministry. She gave the example of a young man who attended her church who looked tough, donning black garb and ornamenting his look with a large wallet chain. Mrs. VanHuis was not a fan of his personal aesthetic, and made him aware of her disapproval after he got a tattoo. However, she later apologized to him, acknowledging that his traits as an individual specially equipped him to relate to and share the gospel with people who would not be receptive when hearing it from Mrs. VanHuis, a suburban mom.

            Next, I described to her my recent struggles with staying committed to routine spiritual disciplines after a particularly difficult semester, and asked if she had any recommendations for how to stay focused on God amidst the distractions of everyday life. I was interested to hear that she herself had been struggling to routinely practice spiritual disciplines. She said that the reading of scripture was painful, and reminded her of her own insufficiency. However, she revealed that this struggle actually helped to make God’s grace more evident to her. This was eye-opening; I was surprised that someone who was older and wiser than me was struggling with the same issues I dealt with. We continued on to discuss the fact that we, as well as many other Christians, have a tendency to notice God’s desire for us to change and overcome our weakness, and a tendency to overlook His unconditional love. After some conversation, we concluded that a good first step in rectifying this incorrect understanding would be to spend time reading passages of scripture that emphasize God’s loving and merciful nature.

            Finally, we talked about career trajectory. As a business major, I have recently begun to consider switching my major to economics and, given that Mrs. VanHuis' son is an economics major set to graduate this year, I asked her about his experience in that major. This brought us into an interesting discussion of the fact that economics is a topic that applies not only to the economy itself, but also to a broad range of aspects of day-to-day life. She stated that her son had noticed opportunities for economists in a wide range of fields.

            Overall, despite the fact that this conversation did not necessarily go in the direction I expected it to, it was edifying. I believe that Mrs. VanHuis and I both benefited from our time of discussion, and I am looking forward to our future conversations.