Becoming a Missionary,... a Sin?

As I reflect on the name of my degree program, "Faith, Vocation and Culture," the theme that has been dominant these last eight months for me has been that of every vocation having an inherent dignity, as an outworking of God's call upon His people to work out their callings in the world wherever they might be. In this excerpt from Mountains Beyond Mountains, Paul Farmer is having an exchange with Boston-based construction mogul Tom White, a man who was Partners in Health's first investor (see here Farmer eulogizing White: http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/08/farmers-eulogy-of-first-pih-investor.html). The exchange between Farmer and White reminded me a lot of what I've been looking at more closely this year:

“One time when they were together in Boston, White said, ‘You know, Paul, sometimes I’d like to chuck it all and work as a missionary with you in Haiti.’ Farmer thought for a while, then said, ‘In your particular case, that would be a sin.’” Mountains Beyond Mountains, p. 95