Have you ever considered that your work, no matter what it is, matters very much to God? That in fact, your work is a method God wants to use to speak to you, as well as through you? “Every Job a Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses & Astronauts Tell Us About God” is an insightful new book written by Calgary, Alberta pastor John Van Sloten and published by NavPress that unpacks these questions with great insight and thought-provoking depth.

So what exactly is “Every Job a Parable” about? Well, as John explains, through the pages of this book “you’ll encounter God’s revelation through various vocational parables, as shared with me by the people I interviewed. You’ll learn how a firefighter’s passion is like God’s, how the nature of automotive restoration uniquely reflects the renewing mind of God, how the cultural product of the culinary arts reveals something of the hospitable heart of God, and how a geophysicist’s search for subterranean truth informs humanity’s collective search for God’s truth.”

I love how this book breaks the broad subject of “work” into much more specific areas of “vocation”, and then illuminates the various ways of how it all points back to the God who created us, our world, and our work. My eyes were opened time and time again to the different ways that God is moving in and through and all around us, including in our daily work. I didn’t agree completely with a few areas of theology, and at times the mini-sermons seemed to carry on a little longer than necessary, but overall I found the message and insights of this book to be tremendously beneficial and presented in a way that is easy to comprehend, yet provides food for thought long after you finish the book.

In closing, let John’s words about the beautiful gift of discovering the parables within our work inspire you, and open your eyes to the truths that God reveals to us in so many ways… “I love seeing the look in people’s eyes when they realize that God really is moving through the work they do. At first they’re surprised, and then there is this beautiful sense of goodness and gratitude that washes over them. It’s as though they are becoming more of their vocational selves right before my eyes. In that moment I experience God’s delight.” If this sounds like a message you would like to dive into, don’t miss “Every Job a Parable”!

“Book has been provided courtesy of NavPress and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.”