...He's so good to me!

God is so good. 

I have been going back and forth on being ok with accepting the fact that we live so far from our friends and family. I have felt like if I accept it, then I'll never be able to go back home, and William will think that we should stay forever because I like it here now. On the other hand, I have felt that if I don't accept it, then there is a slight possibility that we could move back home sooner rather than later, and that if I don't make friends here, then I won't forget my friends back home, even if that means being miserable while we're here.  Also, I have had feelings of this not being fair or what I am supposed to be doing because I am not with the family that God has so richly blessed me with. I long for a day, where I won't have to move anymore, where I can be with the ones that I love and know that that is where I am supposed to be. Most of these thoughts have been selfish and somewhat fleeting, but they are still there and I couldn't figure out why I would feel so terribly about moving. 

Enter a package from Whit and Joel Butler in the mail. 

Our good friends from Starkville sent us a little package with a cd of California themed songs and a couple of magazines. One of these magazines was opened to an article entitled "Uhaul Theology - Redeeming the Pain of Moving." This was just what I needed to read. It answered all of my questions of why I would feel this way. It summed up all of the thoughts that I've had and pointed out in scripture why I would feel this way. Moving is part of the curse of the fall. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from the garden of Eden, their home, never to return. Man was not created to move, it is a result of the Fall. However, like everything else, moving can be redeemed. On the cross, Jesus was exiled from his Father who cast Him away from His presence because of our selfishness (a move?) so that we could one day go home forever. This is a reminder of where our home really is, with God in heaven, and that because of Jesus, we can one day go there. However, moving on earth can still be painful, but it too can also be redeemed, even now. We can either be "world-despairers" or "world-affirmers." Wherever we are, we can either hate the place and the community and not get to know the people or care about the people, or we can embrace the community, get to know the people in it and seek ways to serve it. How are we able to embrace where we have moved and actually be able to call it home? The secret is to embrace the Incarnation. God the Son chose to become "absolutely one with those He came to reach." Jesus embraced us when He was forced to move to earth. I should embrace this place and the people within it because that is the only way that I will ever be able to accept it and call it home. This is how moving will be redeemed, and I am beginning to see that no matter where I am, I still have Jesus to rely on, and even if we aren't in the same city, I still have friends and family who love me. I can embrace California, even love it (and admit that I do), because that is what I am called to do in following Jesus' example of moving. God is good. There is nothing that we will go through that Jesus cannot sympathize with nor is there anything that we will go through that is too much for us to handle. So in ending I must admit..."I think I'm gonna like it here!" (the song from Annie for those of you who know it..if not, forget it)

PS Thanks again Whit and Joel for our little package! It really made my day/week/month!! We miss yall!