If you've ever daydreamed about alternate paths or wondered how you can find peace in today's rat race, this book is for you. You can find your true calling where God's grace and the daily grind meet. Many of us follow a seemingly arbitrary and rushed path to a paycheck. Once you're out of school, whether it's high school or college, you're expected to go to work. You work hard to pay your dues. Then, one day, you feel stuck. You feel restless and like a mercenary…the "it's just a job" mentality. Soon, these feelings of alienation and cynicism spill over into the rest of your life. Clapper goes beyond the usual career counseling formula in Living Your Heart's Desire . He explains why it's more helpful to understand the theology behind work, calling, and human freedom. You'll discover a variety of visions of what it means for you to lead a life of Christian faithfulness in all realms of existence. You'll be equipped to understand yourself as a Christian in the workforce as well as understand how to be content -- no matter what you do for a living -- among the discontented. "We must ask if the life we are living is a worthy expression of gratitude for what God has done for us," Clapper writes. "Our most important response is the shape of our entire life. It is, in short, our vocation." Easy to read and relevant to today's economy and world (with many references and lessons from movies), this book can help you lead a more fulfilled, rewarding, and joyful Christian life -- regardless of how you earn a paycheck. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this perfect for small group discussions. Learn to see your "Office Space"-like world as a Spirit-filled and vital calling in Christ. As one reviewer has said, Living Your Heart's Desire will help you "understand the connection between faith of the head and faith of the heart, as well as the next step on your faith journey." Take comfort in knowing that God has a plan for your life. Revel in it. Endorsements for Gregory Clapper’s, Living Your Heart’s Desire: Tired of the rat race? Looking for something beyond a paycheck to give meaning to your work? This is the right book for you and for many Christians in our age. Dr. Clapper draws us back to the ancient, spiritual roots of our calling. He redeems this concept from overtones of technical education, rightly seeing vocation as a Spirit-filled calling in Christ, grounded in faith, hope and love. I hope it inspires many readers to a renewed life of faith in the midst of our daily rounds — our true vocation in Christ. Alan G. Padgett, Professor, Luther Seminary How can I find meaning in the day-to-day tedium of my job? How do I perceive God's will for my life? Is there a divine blueprint that I need to follow? Is there a larger purpose for my existence? These and other pressing issues are tackled head-on in Greg Clapper's engaging new book, "Living Your Heart's Desire." Clapper encourages us to live our lives to the fullest--not in pursuit of society's ephemeral objectives of money, power, and prestige--but by responding faithfully to God's invitation to us to live abundantly through self-giving, as a thankful response to all that God has given us. Rather than offering simplistic, formulaic platitudes on how to find some previously undisclosed divine plan, Clapper instead makes use of ancient Christian wisdom and contemporary popular culture to help us discern God's call by listening for the voice of God in our lives. Suggested questions for reflection and discussion make this immensely constructive book applicable for both individuals and groups. Douglas M. Strong Professor, Wesley Theological Seminary Greg Clapper is a master with regard to the matters of the heart. In this book he invites you to catch a glimpse of the mystery of who you are and what you are called to be and do as a beloved child of God. Drawing deeply from the wells of Christian tradition, but "listening" intently to the voices of selected contemporary films, he woos you graciously into the possibility of a transformed life that is truly worth living. Paul Wesley Chilcote Professor, Duke University Divinity School Using popular films to illustrate my points, my goal is to help folks see how their everyday living can be suffused with the joy and fulfillment that God wants for us. Gregory Clapper is a professor of religion and philosophy at the University of Indianapolis, an elder in the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and a retired chaplain (colonel) from the US Air Force. He has written five books in the areas of Wesleyan studies and spiritual formation, is a graduate of The Upper Room's Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation, and has been on faculty for many Academies across the country. Clapper's ministry with the Air Force had him dealing with a major airplane crash in Iowa, as well as deploying overseas on five different occasions, including three times as the chaplain on the psychiatri