A water-theme seems to be appearing in my life lately, from Levi Lusko’s The River Wild series to two-consecutive days of Isaiah 43:2 emerging in my Praying Promises, and now descriptions of being Shipwrecked from Shannon Daloz Parks in Big Questions, Worthy Dreams. Determined to not allow these coincidences to just pass right on by, I’m learning to Take It Slow, to Be Still, and utter the words, “I’m Listening!” Perhaps the reasoning for my attentiveness to these flashes of insight relates to the amazement I experience when someone articulates an idea that I could not seem to express, but regardless of the “why” these moments occur, my mind is captured!

Digging into the significance of the period of Emerging Adulthood as it relates to one’s faith, Parks shares personal experiences when her faith, and those around her, were tested in moments she describes as being Shipwrecked. Parks states, “When I first began to reflect on the experience of emerging adult faith, a colleague recalled that as a freshman his dream was to become a basketball star. He was not very tall, and he had come to college from a small-town high school. The second week of the season, he was cut from the team. He remembers going to the showers and sobbing for two hours. He suffered the collapse of meaning—his sense of self, world, and God. To undergo shipwreck is to be threatened in a total and primary way. In shipwreck, what has dependably served as shelter and protection and held and carried one where one wanted to go comes apart. What once promised trustworthiness vanishes.”

Understanding that this Season of Life may encompass a great deal of inner conflict while establishing what attributes of our personal and professional identity we will embrace from our past and which ones we will allow to drop away, emerging adults will likely be asked to confront how their faith shapes their choices. And because it is our faith that provides a framework for how we find meaning and purpose, our identities may be challenged by Raging Seas and leave us feeling Shipwrecked, as we see in the basketball player’s story above. It has also been my experience, being surrounded by student athletes, that the rough waters of identity become difficult to navigate when the college journey ends and retirement from sport looms near.

What resonates even deeper with me is that Parks reminds us that being Shipwrecked and overcoming difficult obstacles in life can be a transformational process. God has the ability to use our Struggles to deepen our faith, developing a Habit of Growth that only arises out of overcoming troubling times. “On the other side of these experiences, if we do survive shipwreck—if we wash up on a new shore, perceiving more adequately how life really is—there is, eventually, gladness. It is a gladness that pervades one’s whole being; there is a new sense of vitality, be it quiet or exuberant. Usually, however, there is more than relief in this gladness. There is transformation.”

Being Shipwrecked and washed upon the shore does not feel like the route to a flourishing life, but as we learn in Scripture from the apostle Paul, God is capable of using anything in our lives to create an abundant life, even suicide. Having experienced the suicide of a very close friend myself, Parks words echoed deeply about arriving on the other side of that Shipwreck. Parks notes, “…we suffered a kind of shared shipwreck. We were initiated into yet larger dimensions of consciousness and deepened questions of meaning, purpose, and significance. Now decades later, life and faith have been recomposed, but there remains a shared ache, a shared knowing, and a sweetness among us that from time to time render us reverent again before the Mystery we all share. The questions that suffering and death pose to us are questions of faith: Is there any form of meaning, any faith that can without delusion embrace both our small and great sufferings?”

As I continue to engage and equip Emerging Adults in my discipline, I am reminded that this will be a season of asking big questions, of grappling with deep issues, and it is for this reason that I beg us not to overlook opportunities to Mentor these precious hearts and minds at a vulnerable time in establishing their identities and faith. Please join me in answering the Call to Care! Perhaps there was a time in your life that you felt Shipwrecked and managed to come out transformed on the shore. Will you consider sharing your story in the comments below?

References:

Herrmann, T.W. & Riedel, K.D. (Eds.) (2018). A calling to care: Nurturing college students toward wholeness. Abilene Christian University Press.

Lusko, L. (2021, May 30). Liquid Courage. River Wild Series. Fresh Life Church. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.freshlife.church/messages/message.php?id=1244

Parks, S.D. (2011). Big questions, worthy dreams: Mentoring emerging adults in their search for meaning, purpose, and faith. [Kindle version]. Jossey-Bass.