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Some practical skills are involved. A 20-something young woman speaks of young people investing in Christian communities "even if they don't know where they are going. Because your faith is going with you through all these choices and decisions … it's a skill of sorts to learn to connect to Christian community wherever you are."

A college dropout on his way to Costa Rica told me that he saw the trip as an opportunity for personal growth, even though he had no definite plans. "I figure the more I am away from my comfort zone, the more I have to test myself, the more I can see who I want to be."

The challenge is to form new pathways for those dazzled by choice, to help them form the character and spirit they need to move ahead. They don't need a lecture. They need encouragement to find a life of faith and service. I asked the college dropout how he conceived the challenge before him. "I think of it mostly in terms of character and spirit," he said. "I have to be fully motivated [in whatever I choose], or it won't work."

To such a person, Paul's words are surely relevant: "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him" (Phil. 3:8-9).

Tim Stafford is a senior writer for CT.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

More Christianity Today articles on this topic include:

Suburban Spirituality | The land of SUVs and soccer leagues tends to weather the soul in peculiar ways, but it doesn't have to. (June 23, 2003)

Religion in the 'Burbs | An interview with R. Stephen Warner, sociologist of religion at University of Illinois at Chicago. (June 23, 2003)

Rich, Delighted Christians | The Good of Affluence aims to give leadership to wealthy Christians moved and troubled by their fortune. (Dec. 6, 2002)

'I'm Not in It for the Money' | The digital revolution created many wealthy tech-heads. What do they do now? (Sept. 25, 2001)

The Bobo Future | "Bourgeois bohemians" wield inordinate power over how we think about consumerism, morality--and faith itself (July 25, 2000)

The Culture of the Market: A Christian Vision | A Coptic bishop explains biblical economics to a Muslim newspaper (December 1, 1999)

You've Got Mail | A letter Jesus might write to the suburban church of North America (Eugene H. Peterson, Oct. 25, 1999)

Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing | If ever there was a cult that gave us stones when we asked for bread, this is it. (September 6, 1999)

Why the Devil takes VISA | A Christian response to the triumph of consumerism. (by Rodney Clapp, October 7, 1996)

God Ble$$ America (Editorial) | The rising economic tide floats all yachts. How should Christians help everyone else? (April 3, 2000)

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February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2