All my life I have felt more like an Elijah or a Paul than I have an Isaiah or a King Uzziah.
The difference? Isaiah was prophet over Israel for more than twenty years; Uzziah was one of the few good kings of Judah that did what was right in the Lord's sight- his reign lasted over 50 years. Paul, obviously, was one of the most influential missionaries of all time, with missionary journeys stretching throughout the Mediterranean region; Elijah had a tumultuous ministry to Israel that was continually in motion- God moved him from place to place and never allowed him to grow too comfortable (Detailed in 1 Kings 17- 2 Kings 2).
Feeling like a nomadic Christian has always come with a certain level of shame or guilt- this awkward feeling that I am somehow harming my wife and kids by never having been allowed to stay in one place for too long or to put down roots. (God has called me from a Baptist missionary organization in Mexico when I was 19 to a Christian church in TN when I was 20, to being out of active ministry, to being a youth leader at a small Christian church in KS, to working as a youth leader at a small Church of God, to working with at-risk kids in a situation where I couldn't tell them about Jesus but I could show them, to being at a Baptist children's home in our 30's, to serving as a youth leader in a Nazarene Church, to now being an Associate Pastor here in AR, with myriads of smaller roles of mentoring, coaching and teaching mixed in between.)
So many in our culture might look at that list and say: failure- he's never lasted in one place longer than 4 years. And that's the message that I've received, even from so many in the church: that you're not a success unless you stay in one place for X number of years, especially once you have children.
But in my tenure here at SpringCreek Fellowship, I have begun to understand a different lesson: if God calls you to be a nomadic Christian, not only will He equip you for the work you are to do, He will prepare and equip those within your clan to go do the work, as well.
God will protect my children and bring them the friends and fellowship that they need to feel connected, even if it means only staying in one location for a couple years at a time.
God may call you to one place for a specific purpose. That purpose may be to put down roots and stay there long term, but it may be that God's purpose will change and will lead you down the road to the next thing He has for you to do.
Our job is to be obedient to God's call and direction, not to someone else's expectations or to the cultural norms that dictate what a person's life should look like.
God may be calling you to be a nomadic Christian. Following that call is more important that staying in one place and putting down roots. In the long run, if being a nomadic Christian is what God has called you to do, then doing something else because it's what others feel like you should do will only cause damage to you and your clan.
Follow God's call, not the messages and expectations of those around you.
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