Talking with my late mother several years ago, I found out that she moved around a lot as a child. I never really found out why they moved so much, but it was funny when we were driving around different places in Southern California and she would point out where she had lived as a child.
Not until recently, did I think about the fact that I have moved several times myself. When I was a kid we moved a few times before I was two and then we lived in the same place for 7 years and then my parents divorced and my mom decided to move to Reno, NV where I stayed for 3 years and then went to live with my dad for 7 more years until going off to college.
While in college, I stayed in the same place for 3 of the 4 years and moved to a campus house (non dormitory) for my senior year. Once college was completed, then I lived with some guys in a house in Jacksonville. Then I bought a place and that ended up being a disaster (long story), Moved into an apartment where I stayed until I moved to MN in 2002.
When I was thinking about moving, I calculated that I have moved over 14 times in my life. That is a lot of moving!
Well, our family is going to move again. We moved once shortly after my son turned 1, because we needed a larger place. Now with two kids, we are out of room in our current place.
Lord willing, at the end of July we will be moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There are several reasons for this move for us as a family:
- I have been out of seminary for three years this coming May and nothing is happening with regard to ministry. One can only march in place for so long.
- The current company I work for has a large office there and incidentally both of my bosses are based out of that particular office. This could help my current career.
- The cost of living is much cheaper in Texas and there is no state income tax.
- Maybe moving to a new area, finding a new church will bring opportunities that do not exist currently.
- We will be closer to my in-laws while they are away in the winter.
This comes with some challenges and caveats. If we are unable to secure housing by the end of May, then we will not move in 2013. One of the biggest challenges besides housing is finding a good local church. My wife and I have been members of our current church for over 10 years. I came to MN for seminary and the eventual goal of being in full-time vocational ministry. As much as I would like to stay, I feel that I must move on because there are no opportunities for full-time ministry here. This is the only church that my kids have ever known. My son is currently in a Christian school and in DFW we noticed that Christian education is much more expensive than here in MN, so finding a new school is a challenge as well. Moving is also going to be an expensive venture. Since this is a voluntary relocation, the company will not fund it and I never expected them to do so anyway. I am thankful that I am able to make this type of a move without having to go through the ordeal of job hunting as well. One thing we will be getting used to is trading winter for summer.
We spent seven days in DFW in October and we got to see and do quite a few things. I wanted my family to experience it first-hand.
We know that the Lord is able to provide exactly what we need. We are trusting God in this endeavor. He has provided an open door and we are walking through it at this time. We would love to stay here in MN and that would be easy for us since we have been here for so long and we are somewhat established. God gives us opportunities to grow us and stretch us outside of our comfort zone.
Please pray for us.
