Ambition To Serve God

So this determined young athlete retired her oars. “Actually, I gave them away just so I wouldn’t be haunted by the dream they represented, so I would be free to follow Jesus with all my heart.”

So where is she now? “I am in a different kind of training now. I realized that the kind of sacrifice and commitment that Borden and Pitkin made were REALLY hard. Just as it takes years of preparation to learn enough about rowing to be ready to enter Olympic competition, so it takes time to prepare for the challenges of the mission field, and that’s my focus now. I’m learning about the challenges from other people who have gone before me. I’m learning as much as I can about the God who is worthy to ask so much of me. I feel I have a good foundation, but there’s always more to understand.”

There are still external expectations and pressure. “My mother has repeatedly asked me not to ‘waste my Yale education.’ I understand now that by going to the mission field, I am not wasting my Yale degree but fulfilling it.” Elizabeth plans to visit Colombia, South America, this summer and is thinking about returning later to stay long-term.

Only twenty years ago, Robert Francis (PC ’80) was in the Whiffenpoofs his senior year when he and a group of three other men quit to form a new a cappella group called “Living Water,” devoted only to singing about Jesus. What kind of life decisions has that led him to make? “Five months after [accepting Jesus], it was Rev. Peter Rogers (of St. John’s Episcopal Church) who suggested that I consider a career or calling in the ministry. I literally laughed at the prospect.” His parents had groomed him for many years to be a businessman, but he admits he did not have much direction. “I grew up in the altruistic 60’s. The desire to be rich was not a lure for me. I wanted something to live for, but saw little that attracted me.”

So he found himself at a missions conference in Urbana, Illinois, with 20,000 other delegates, listening to Billy Graham. He recalls, “[Mr. Graham] exhorted us to give our future to God. The issue was not ministry versus secular work; the issue was giving up control and letting God direct us whichever way He wishes. That prospect was truly frightening that night.” He found himself “terrified to leave the path expected of [me]” even though he wanted to fulfill God’s purpose for his life. “I wrestled for months with the decision to take the next step. One night a family friend told me of her contemporaries who have regrets because they didn’t follow the dreams they had as youth. [She] helped me step out in boldness to obey Jesus.”

Mr. Francis has served twenty years with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Singapore and other locations in Asia. The biggest obstacle he had to overcome to reach a decision? “One thing I could not see while at Yale was how deeply the expectations of my peers, family, and culture made an imprint on my self-worth. It is relatively easy to say, “I want to live for God’s glory and purposes”; it is difficult to live that way. Anyone who tries to practice Christ’s priorities in his career will quickly learn that the measurements of success and signs of approval flow counter to the gospel. God will likely allow such a person to pass through a time of obscurity and worldly insignificance on his pathway to a tested, approved, anointed ministry. As an overachieving Yalie, I can tell you this has been one of the hardest experiences of my life. Nonetheless, I am deeply thankful and glad I decided to choose this path.”

At a place like Yale, students are tempted to think that God will bless them by letting them amount to something. Rob’s perspective about his life is: “I’ve never owned a home. I have no property in the US. I don’t own a car at present. I am famous nowhere. Perhaps by others’ standards I have lost something by stepping into missions. In my own heart, I don’t feel that way. Nothing can compare to knowing the experience of God’s Spirit using you to touch others. I am doing today what I never dreamt of twenty years ago.”

What about Rob’s parents, who expected him to be a successful businessman? “[My choice] came as a shock to them. My father was less angry than heartbroken. He had very little respect for the clergy, [but] his response was ‘You mustn’t live your life to please me…’ Pretty cool huh?”

A self-admitted overachiever while at Yale, he realized that living a life without regrets implied the unusual tactic of letting go of those things he thought he valued most. He counsels, “Listen to God’s voice over your own intellect—Yalies are probably more crippled than served by their intellects…. It is true, if we yield our rights and walk in obedience to Christ, God will give us privilege with Him. Yielding rights is painful and difficult. There is no easy path to following Jesus. The cross is an instrument of death. Following Him means choosing to die. Die to your right to ‘career’ and come follow Jesus. Allow Him to do something with your life that would only boggle your imagination if I could show it to you. But do it because you want to please Him and walk in thankfulness for all He has done for you.”

Following Jesus doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. For some, it has not meant leaving the country. In recent years, a sizeable number of students have realized that God wants to use their Yale degrees on college campuses. Charmain (Wong) Yun (BR ’95) was planning a career in law that has been put on hold indefinitely as she and her husband, Sang Yun (ES ’93), oversee the undergraduate organization, Yale Students for Christ. The reason for her decision? “The clincher was when I read about how Jesus—though He was God—gave it up to become man to die for us. (Philippians 2) He didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped. But, he let go. I realized that if He let go, the only thing I can do in response is to let go of my own ambitions, identity, and ideas of prosperity. And I have found that once we let go, God always has something better for us.”