Introduction

As the title implies, this book's objective is to focus on a Path that will enhance our spirituality and relationship with our God. In doing so, it focuses on a path that is both realistic and attainable For Us Everyday People.

This is a revised edition to a book that was first published in 2006 under the same title. While the book's focus is the same, however, with its revisions it speaks more to the Everyday Person of this fast-changing world we live in.

Let's face it. Our world today is different from that of our parents and grandparents. Not only are our lives at a faster pace, but technology has infiltrated virtually every aspect of our lives. Today, there are factions in our society that desire to influence our children and us more on "what" we should think, instead of "how" to think as was the standard of past protocol.

Now add our professional and career demands into the mix of our life, and it is no wonder that our levels of stress and anxiety have increased to where it is no longer just an occasional occurrence; instead, it has become almost a way of life for many of us.

Yet, for us everyday people, we keep forging ahead because, like everyone else, we desire to live the American dream. We are after that American dream that says we want to have it all. We want everything that this land of opportunity has to offer.

But is that possible? Is it possible to believe that we can have it all and still have a life? Additionally, is it possible to think we can have it all and still live a life as a good and faithful Christian? Finally, is it realistic to believe that we can actively participate as members of today's society and still focus on our spirituality with an enhanced relationship with our God and Creator?

In what feels like an anti-religion, anti-Christian world we live in, it's easy to get the impression that it is difficult if not impossible to live our vocational call with society's expectations and still live it as a good and faithful Christian.

God did not call us all to be a St. Francis of Assisi or a Mother Teresa. He is not asking most of us, Everyday People, to give up everything and live the life of a monk or a nun. He has not called most of us to be priests, ministers, or mission workers.

However, he has called us to a steadfast relationship with him. He has called each of us to a personal relationship and one in which we will grow each day by the life we live. To accomplish this objective, some of us have been called to be doctors, nurses, schoolteachers, businesspeople, carpenters, salespeople, barbers, beauticians, scientists, politicians, or any of the countless honorable secular professions in the world today.

With all the divisions we face between the secular and religious, it is easy to get the impression that one must choose between one or the other. It often feels that we are faced with the ultimation that we cannot have both. But that is a false belief. God knew what he was doing when he put you on this earth in the span of history that he did. He, better than anyone, is fully aware of the situations we are facing today. But he put you here for a specific reason.

The message of this book will discuss how we can live an active and productive life in the world as it exists today. And still, live the life that's faithful to both our vocational calling while also being faithful to our baptismal call to a relationship with our God and Savior.