Moving as a Way of Life

In 2005, we bought a house together with my father-in-law.  It was the nicest house I have ever owned.  From our bedroom we could see the Coast Guard make its way up the Penobscot River, cutting a way through the ice in the winter time.  Eagles flew overhead and sometimes sat in the trees on our property.  Five picture windows allowed natural light to fill our home. A full basement and plenty of closet space meant I never had to get rid of things just because of a lack of space.  Old hardwood floors and a newly renovated kitchen made it a place of my dreams.

A wintry picture of the house of my dreams.

In the summer of 2009, when God called us out of the pastorate into an itinerant teaching ministry, we put the house on the market.  It sold in February, 2010.  We sold much of our household belongings and moved the rest into storage.  Since that time, we have been in a series of temporary locations.  In the past six months we have moved three times.  Last week we moved again, this time into a singlewide trailer in a coastal town in Maine.

The day may come when I tire of the frequent moves, but right now I am very thankful for them.  They remind me of things that are too easy to forget in our everyday normal life. 

• I am a nomad through this life.   This world is not my permanent dwelling.  I was made for eternity.  I best live out my destiny when I keep this life temporary and invest in eternity.
• I live in a temporary shelter (my body) that I will shed one day like worn out clothes.  While I must care for it in order to use it to its best use, it is less important than the person inside it.
• Living in a series of temporary locations keeps me from investing too much time and energy on things that will not matter in one hundred years.  While I still love to surround myself with beauty and order, I draw more from the things that are free, like the flowers that grow alongside the road and the beautiful sunsets outside my window.  
• I have great examples to follow.  Abraham lived in tents and wandered throughout the promised land.  Jesus never owned a home.  Paul was an itinerant church planter and teacher. 

Perhaps the best part of this itinerant life is the way it forces me to focus on internal roots rather than external ones:  "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."  (Col. 2:6-7)

Thank you, Lord, for these opportunities to focus on You.