Teen Years: Choosing a Career Path
Len: Welcome to A Willing Heart to Please the Fa ther! This is Len Lacroix, and I'm here tonight, joined by my guest, Dr. Andrew Stenhouse. And tonight we're going to be talking about his teen years, so you're in for a real treat tonight, as we talk about that segment of his life. So, Andrew, I want to welcome you back to the program.
Dr. Stenhouse: Thank you, Len. It is so lovely to be back with you this evening, again, and to bring the next introduction of what's been happening in my life. This covers the years from when I was thirteen through seventeen.
And, during this time, we made a transition as a family from Scotland to New Zealand. And the decisions I had to make—or challenges, really, that I had to make regarding my further schooling and further choice of a ministry, or rather a choice of what I would like to do for the rest of my life…
Len: Why don't we start with some experiences that you'd like to share that happened during that period, before we go into your move from Scotland to New Zealand. Are there any experiences that you remember from that period that you want to talk about that happened before the move?
Dr. Stenhouse: I think the main thing that happened was my father was exhausted from his continual work for many years during World War II. And my parents had had relatives living in New Zealand, so it was a natural thing for them to consider going over there and to get some peace from the terrible time during World War II.
Len: Okay. So your father initially moved from Detroit, Michigan, USA to England to work for General Motors (GM) in London.
However, when the war began, he was put in charge of the steel for all of Great Britain for the war effort. That included springs, planes, tanks, and everything else made of steel. That required him to travel to all the steel plants in the countryside and to London every day, which was exhausting.
Dr. Stenhouse: That's correct.
Len: So then you all moved from Scotland to New Zealand. Right?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes, we went from England to Scotland, and from Scotland to New Zealand. And my father had relatives over there, which made it quite smooth to make that trip.
Len: Yeah, sure. Is there anything you want to talk about with respect to the actual move that you made?
Dr. Stenhouse: No, not really, except that it was a bit traumatic for me going from one college to another college with different programs and different outlines for students and, of course, different times.
But our trip from Scotland to New Zealand was very interesting. I did well in the Scotland school and actually got a medal in mathematics, which surprised everybody. And then we were moving over to New Zealand.
During the trip to New Zealand, the interesting thing on that trip was going through the Suez Canal. And going through the Suez Canal, my father had written a thesis for a master’s degree at the University of London on “The Source of Water for Israel”.
And so he had written this, and I had helped him with the mapping, and so on, of the charts. And he felt that I would be a natural to do this sort of thing in New Zealand. So this is what I started off on. I went to school there for a year or so and then went into university, in Wellington, New Zealand, and started in geological survey as a follow-up to my father's master's degree from University of London.
Len: Ok, so when you went to the university, how old were you?
Dr. Stenhouse: I was sixteen. I couldn't go earlier than sixteen. I was sixteen when I went to university, and you were able to go there, then.
Len: Wow! That’s pretty young to be going into university! Was that unusual, in that era?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes, it was a little unusual. And it allowed me to go during the day and work after hours as a helper in a restaurant. So that was what I did to help make some money for us all.
Len: Ok. Now because of the help you gave your dad on the map work for his thesis—did you spend any time working on mapping, such as any kind of studies in that area, at all, or any work in that area?
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes, when I was fifteen, I worked in a mapping department and lands and survey department and took exams on my mapping there and passed those. And then I moved over from the mapping section to the geology section.
Len: Ok. So, when you were on your trip through the Suez Canal, how did that tie in with his master's thesis on water supply for Israel?
Dr. Stenhouse: Well, my father did that for a master's degree in University of London and forwarded it over to there. But I told him, when we were on the trip to New Zealand, I said, "Dad, you need to get off this boat and go to Israel to see these things that we mapped out."
And Dad said to me, "No, I'm so sorry, I'm not able to do that. I'm not able to do that."
Len: Yeah. So now talk to me a little bit about your decision regarding which career you would pursue.
Dr. Stenhouse: I went home one holiday, just before I was sixteen, to northern New Zealand where my father was working (at this time, he was working as a teacher). And we spent about two weeks going through all of the various things I thought I could work in, and we never reached anything other than the possibility of being a geologist. And that was why I came back and entered geological survey, as a cartographer, and took it up as a career at the university by taking on geology as a major.
Len: I see. Because there was one point at which your father—you had said that he had artistic skills and thought that you would do well in the art field.
Dr. Stenhouse: Yes, well the reason for that was that I helped him out with his mapping, very well, and he thought it was a natural thing for me to do.
Len: Yeah! So you entered into geological studies at what school in New Zealand?
Dr. Stenhouse: At the Wellington University in Wellington, New Zealand.
Len: Yeah, interesting! Well, that brings us to the conclusion of this podcast, talking about your teen years. And it's very interesting to see how you made that decision on which career path to pursue. And it's also easy to see why you’d pick that, because of the natural talent that you had with the mapping—or cartography, as you called it.
But what we're going to see in the next segment is how God redirected you into the career path that He wanted you in. And it's going to be very interesting for our listeners to listen to that one, because it really shows how, in Proverbs 16:9, it tells us that, "In a man's heart he plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." And so you had planned your course, but we're going to find out in the next segment how God redirected your steps.
Dr. Stenhouse: Ok, Len. That sounds good!
Len: So I want to thank you very much for sharing that today and for being on the program. And I look forward to our next chat together, Andrew.
Dr. Stenhouse: Thank you, Len! Thank you so much!
Len: You're welcome.