I have been home from my trip to San Diego and the YS National Youth Workers Convention for a few weeks now.  I have thought about the different interactions I had while there, what I learned about myself and about youth ministry, and about how God spoke to me over those few days.

One of the most significant breakout sessions and ensuing conversations I had while there I walked into accidentally.  I went into a session about writing for youth ministry to kill about 45 minutes before meeting up with a friend. During the session the presenters were giving advice on writing proposals, the editing process, and dancing around the fact that getting published is not easy and a long (long)  journey.

As they were implying how hard and nearly impossible getting published really is without coming right out and saying it, one of them gave this advice; “before you even start down this road know why you want to write.”

This is a question I have wrestled with a few times in my writing journey and have written about it a few different times in the past.  The fourth post on my blog (May 5th, 2011) was literally titled Why I Write .  I wrote about my struggle with this very same question again about seven months ago in a guest post I Need to Protect Myself from Myself.

I have no idea what God has called you to do, perhaps it is writing, or maybe something completely different.  But chances are it will take a journey to fulfill that calling.  Now that I am several years into this writing journey I can see how much God has molded me, taught me, and helped me along the way.  It has definitely been a lot harder than I first thought; if you haven’t answered this question you likely won’t keep going when it gets hard.

Why do you want to ______________?  Go ahead, fill in the blank.  I want to write because God has asked me to, and this is why I keep going through the victories and the struggles.