I went to my church's Bible study last night, and we're going through A Fragile Stone: Peter: Jesus' Friend With Michael Card.
We talked about the issue of moving, since Peter left behind his
fishing occupation to follow Jesus. One of the questions in the book
was: "What move from a home or a community has been the most traumatic
or difficult in your life?"
Often, I think
about the places where I did not fit in, and I become discouraged. What
I thought about last night, however, was how I'm usually reluctant to
move to someplace new because I've found my niche in a given community.
To my surprise, as I look back, I can see that such has been the case
in every place where I have lived. I was slightly bummed out about
moving from Greencastle, Indiana to Boston because I liked my church in
Greencastle, a campus Christian group that had awesome praise and
worship, and the nice people I knew. I was then bummed out about moving
from Boston to New York City because I liked my church in Boston. I
was especially bummed out about moving from New York City to Cincinnati
because I was spiritually fed by Tim Keller's sermons at Redeemer in New
york, and I also enjoyed the New York Metro Adventist Forum. In
Cincinnati, it took me a while to find a community, but I eventually
did, and so I was fearful that I wouldn't find a community in upstate
New York, where I was moving (though, of course, I'd have my Mom, my
Mom's husband, and the kitty-cats----and, as one lady in the group who
has also moved a lot said, being around family can make things easier).
But I've found a good church here. But there will come a point when
I'll have to move from here. Will I find a community in the next place
where I am?
I guess that I should trust that God will take
care of me wherever I might be. I'm often hesitant to say this, for
what about the people in the world who are lonely and lack community?
Does God love them less? That shows that I need to be sensitive to the
needs of others. But it amazes me that, even though I often complain
about not fitting in, I've usually found some community wherever I am.