Meditations on Moving
This past Saturday Jen, Charis, and I moved to Gaithersburg, MD, where we’ll be residing for the next ten months while I attend the Sovereign Grace Ministries Pastor’s College. We’re pumped to be here and excited to see what God is going to do in our lives.
Moving puts a different lens on life. It gives you eyes to see things you normally miss amidst the comfort and chaos of everyday life. For example:
We Have So Much Stuff!
Jen and I have been married for only two years, have never owned a house, and own very little furniture. Yet somehow we’ve managed to accumulate a mountain of things. Literally. We rented a 10×10 storage unit and it’s busting at the rafters with stuff. Our stuff. We are incredibly blessed. There are millions of people throughout the world who live in houses that aren’t much bigger than our storage unit and whose possessions could fit into a small cardboard box. God has been so kind to me. Lord help me always be grateful for the things you’ve given me and never give myself to the things of this world.
This World Isn’t Our Home
For the past year we’ve rented an absolutely wonderful house in a wonderful neighborhood, and my hope was that we could rent the house again when we returned to Indiana ten months from now. Unfortunately we couldn’t make that happen. So now we don’t have a house, and to be honest, that feels kind of weird. We formed wonderful memories in this house - memories of babies learning to crawl and Christmas presents being opened. I like the sense of permanence and security that a house provides, and right now we don’t have that (although I should note, we have the most wonderful host family here). It’s a wonderful reminder that this world isn’t my home. I was made for a person, Jesus, and for a place, heaven.
I Wish I Knew My Neighbors Better
We had wonderful neighbors who didn’t know Jesus. One of my few regrets is that I didn’t take the time to share the gospel with them. I wish I had spent just a little more time hanging out with them. Lord willing we’ll be able to maintain our friendship with them when we return, and I’ll have the opportunity to tell them about Jesus.
+photo by PinkMoose
Posted in Passion For God
August 18th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Welcome to Gaithersburg! We are excited to share this journey with you guys!
August 18th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Give Walt and Kim a hug for me. They just got up there this week. You all will enjoy getting to know them. Walt loves to worship (he’s our worship leader when he’s here). Kim is just a joy- full of the joy of the Lord.
Enjoy your time there.
Trill
August 18th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Moving is a great opportunity to put materialism to death!!!
I’ve moved a lot with my family and it’s really helped me to not be a pack rat.
Enjoy the PC!!! It’s a blast, ya’ll will have a fantastic time!
August 18th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Megan - We’re so glad to be here.
Trillia - We’re really glad to get to meet them!
Yeller - It’s amazing how much junk you realize that you have when you move.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I hate moving. Which is why, of course, I’ve done it about 4 times in the past 2-3 years. Plus, I want to buy a house in the next six months too, which would up the move total. But hey, at least I will have stayed at my current place for a year as of October!
On the bright side, it has forced me to depart with much junk that I haven’t needed over the years.