Moving Day

In a few months our office will be moving to a different location. My wife and I are in the early stages of preparing a move to the Southwest.

So, I'm reminded of God's call to Abram. The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.' Genesis 12:1-2 NLT).

The Christian journey is never passive or stagnant. We move by the current and impulse of the Holy Spirit. Too many Christians may be in locations that they should have gotten up and left long ago to find God's blessing elsewhere. I'm not speaking of just moving for the sake of it. Making unwise and untested decisions to wander about aimless is not God's intent.

As a young adult, I left my hometown in Rhode Island to attend a bible school in Florida. Little did I know I would return only to visit Newport on my 40th birthday. By then bible school led me to an internship on a hospital ship that took me to different parts of Europe and Africa.

There I met a beautiful Singaporean lady. We were married in Singapore and next year we celebrate our 25th anniversary. Soon after we married, we moved to Florida. Then on to Oregon and later New York. Each step of the journey God has revealed Himself in ways that if I remain rooted in Rhode Island that it's possible I may not have learned lessons of faith. And find the love of my life.

Faith increases when moving away from the familiar into a strange place. There will be mistakes, mishaps, and problems that only God can see you through it. And when leaving a familiar place your spiritual eyesight of God's higher vision is unclouded by the conflicts of what seems safe and familiar.

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:9-10 NIV).