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Home. What is it? Where is it?

Long Pond Camp, Duane, NY

I grew up in the Adirondack Mountains, a 6 million acre park, making it the largest protected area in the mainland 48 states. There are many “great camps” throughout the Adirondacks, privately owned by the rich and famous. My father was the caretaker for one of those camps, a property of around 1000 acres, with two lakes, a pond, and miles of trails through the woods and over the mountains. Aside from a few structures, the property is vastly undeveloped and completely wild. The nearest neighbors are well over half of a mile away.

Because my father was the caretaker, we lived on that property. That is where I grew up. That is where I originally called home. It was very quiet and peaceful. If you stopped and stood completely still, you would hear nothing but absolute silence, except for perhaps the wind softly blowing, a squirrel scurrying up a tree, or the birds chirping up above. Years ago, if you had asked me to define home, I would have described that property. 

Since I grew up mostly alone and my formative years were spent on such a vast, quiet piece of land, I have always been much more introverted than extroverted, and preferred solitude to exposure to people. Fast forward many years: I survived dorm life in college, where I shared a tiny dorm room, maybe 10 feet square, with two roommates: one from Nepal and one from Kenya. I have lived in a rental house in North Carolina where the neighbor’s kids would frequently turn my front lawn into an end zone as they played football with their friends. I then went on to own a different house in North Carolina, where my view was of endless rows of houses.

Today, now back in upstate NY, I live in the parsonage of the small-town church that I pastor. The parsonage is on one of the busiest roads in town. In fact, even as I write this, I am listening to the many cars whizzing by, only a few yards from the front of the house. This is home now - on a street busy with traffic speeding by, in town, far from isolation, with my neighbor's young grandchildren running through my backyard as they play, people having conversations in their driveways, and many people walking by everyday as they head to the store or to the post office. I have fallen in love with this town and I have fallen in love with the people here. I know that this is far from city life, but it is still far from what I would have described my home to be years ago.

God sometimes moves us out of our comfort zones, and when He does, if we are faithful to follow Him, He will give us a peace beyond belief. I live outside of my comfort zone everyday. I’m okay with that. I’m grateful that He has given me a completely new and different perspective on people. I could revert back to my desire to be “home”, alone in the quiet of the woods, but instead when I see my neighbors, and I see people walking by, I see people that are hurting. I see people that need hope. I see people that need Jesus and the hope of a future in heaven with Him. I want to share that hope with them. I want to lead Victory Baptist Church to share that hope with them. I want to share life with them. I want to make a difference. I just don’t always know how to make that difference.

Brasher Falls, NY

I have heard it said that for Christians, heaven is our home. That is true. However, until then we have a temporary home on this earth. God has taught me in recent years, that home is not about a location or a town. Home is not about a building or a house. Home is not even about the people there. Home is about being where God wants us to be. Home is about being satisfied in Him. Home is about having concern for those around us, no matter where we are, and no matter who they might be - our neighbors. Unfortunately, too many of us are still asking “Who is my neighbor?” (see Luke 10).

The familiar passage below, that Jesus told his disciples, is often used to talk about heaven and how He is preparing a place for us there. However, I recently have been pondering a different spin on that. Forgive me for taking scripture out of context. However, I believe that God prepares places for us on this earth as well. I believe that God leads us to where He wants us to serve and that He leads us to people that we can be effective in sharing the gospel with, if only we would be so bold and willing to do so.

John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

I believe that God has, in many ways, prepared this place for me to serve, and in the same way, He has prepared me to serve this place. And although this place is far different than I ever would have pictured home to be, I can say in full confidence that I am home.

I Can't Do That... Yet.

It's the start of a new school year and, as most of you know, in addition to being a pastor, I also am a choral/vocal music teacher for grades 7-12 at the combined middle and high school in the small town that I live in. With the start of a new school year, there are a lot of changes. The seniors that I had in class last year are no longer there. I have many new faces in my high school choir and an entirely different mood/personality in that group, for the better. I also have an entirely new group of 7th graders to get to know and teach. I have only had my middle school students for two class days now, but there is one girl in my 8th period class that, when I ask the class to do something, has said this on both of those days: "I can't do that... yet." 

It's amazing how much, as a teacher, I can learn from my students. It's also amazing how much adults can learn from younger minds. When she said that statement earlier today, I was immediately reminded about how often we make excuses, or we try to get out of things that we don't feel that we are any good at.

Take me, for example. I have been on stage for as long as I can remember, singing and playing instruments. However, up until a few years ago, if you had asked me to speak, in any length at all in front of people, I would have laughed it off. I have never considered myself to be a very good speaker. However, I know without a doubt that God has called me to be a pastor and to speak truth and hope into the lives of the people of Winthrop and Brasher Falls, and the surrounding communities. No doubt. Speaking every week from the pulpit still scares me every time. In fact, when I first spoke at Victory, in December of 2014, although nobody knew it, I literally was about to pass out in the front pew, during the music, because of my nerves. Speaking does not come naturally to me. When God was calling me back north to pastor, I kind of had a conversation with God in which I listed every reason that I shouldn't do it, including how pathetic I was at speaking, both conversationally and to crowds. But God reminded me that it wasn't my power that would allow me to do it, but it was His. He reminded me that if He truly was calling me to do this, that He would give me the strength and He would give me the ability to succeed. And He has been faithful to do that, as I continue to learn what it means to pastor and lead this congregation, as well as how to grow in my speaking skills, although there is still plenty of room to grow in that department.

Hebrews 13:20-21 says, "Now may the God of peace who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood—may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen." (my emphasis added)

God will equip us with the tools that we need to carry out the plan that He has for our lives. We can choose to trust Him and follow His lead, or we can choose to follow our plan for our lives and end up somewhere completely off the map from where God intends for us and desires for us to be. As followers of Christ, we need to trust that God knows what He's doing, even when we feel unequipped and incapable of doing what He asks. All through the bible, God used people that logically shouldn't have been able to accomplish all that they did. It was only because God equipped them so that they could do His will. Are you willing to follow after God's will? Or are you making excuses for not taking a step of faith into whatever God has ahead for you?

Perhaps we should adopt the same philosophy to our faith, and to our lives, that my student has adopted for my chorus class - I can't do that... yet, BUT in God's time, and in God's way, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)