“What kind of a career is youth ministry anyway?”

My friend was devastated. He’d been building up to this moment for weeks - approaching the wealthy and successful father of the woman he loved to tell him he wanted to marry his daughter. He’d imagined the moment would be joyful, that the man would embrace him to the heart of the family; instead he had his life and career called into serious question. “She deserves to marry a man who takes himself seriously,” said the father, a city banker who immediately offered to find my friend a job in the financial sector. “Honestly,” he asked, “what kind of a career is youth ministry anyway?”