Quitter Winner

Happy October y’all!

The leaves are beginning to turn, the air is crisp, and I’m coming down with my annual case of bronchitis.

All my former coworkers can now jump for joy at not having to hear me cough incessantly on conference calls for the next eight weeks.  Yay!

This month, I’m joining my friend, creative coach Jim Woods in Writers Unite, a movement of bloggers to stop focusing on numbers and statistics and renew the focus on writing that matters. I’m climbing up out of a “slumpy” time of discouragement, and I’m looking forward to Writers Unite to launch this new season of my life with a lot of intention.

This month, I’ll be working on sharpening my fiction skills and also on coming back to the heart of my passion, the children around the world who have lost the protection of their parents.

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Also, I want to share a book I’ve been reading. This week marks the release of Kingdom Journeys by Seth Barnes.  Seth is the founder of Adventures in Missions (my new part time employer…), and he’s worked with thousands of people to help them understand the restless that so many of us feel.

Seth believes in the call to step out of our comfort zones and experience God through a physical journey…a mission trip, a pilgrimage, or even a trip into the areas of town that might feel uncomfortable to you.  If you have ever felt that sense of restlessness, a wanderlust that you can’t explain, please hop on over to Amazon and check this out.  It’s good.

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Finally, thanks to everyone who entered to win the autographed copies of Quitter!

The winners (chosen at random from the folks who shared and commented on the giveaway post last week) are:

Teresa T, who wanted to be a teacher
And
Lauren, who wants to be an Organizer/Decorator

Lauren’s comment really struck me, too, because she is very much what the philosophy of Quitter is all about.  Lauren says:

I have always wanted to be a writer and some sort of organizer/interior decorator. While I do the later in our own home, I would love to do it for others. I’ve always been pushed into a more “meaningful” career path from others, but I find my dreams meaningful as well. The hardest part of not being able to fulfill my dream occupation/s is that I currently work with individuals with developmental disabilities and feel utterly like a terrible person for it not being my dream.

In Quitter, Jon Acuff talks about a job where he was working in marketing for a company that was known as a playground for engineers.  He likens this to trying to swim on a tennis court…both sports are completely legitimate, but totally different.  He wanted it to be a cool, hip, creative place. It was a highly technical “geek paradise.” He was miserable.

Everyone is wired up differently, and you can be doing the most noble thing in the world, but if it isn’t aligned with what is deep in your heart and what makes you come alive, then you’re trying to swim on a tennis court.

I’m happy to be blessing both Theresa and Lauren with autographed copies of Quitter…Both of you watch your emails for details!

What’s your goal for October?  Leave a comment…

*Photo Credits: Zest-pk (Creative Commons), Kaleidescope International, Jen Gabler Schwab