Lessons (so far) from Minnesota
It’s been a little over a month and a half since my wife and I moved back to Minnesota. A few of our friends in Florida have been gently teasing me about the timing of our move. After all, who in their right mind would move from the warm, pleasant spaces of Central Florida to one of the coldest places in the country at the peak of the snow season and frigid temps? To be fair, the intense winter here has proved them right in their assessment of the weather. So why did we do this? There are a few lessons I have been learning during the past few months of discernment, transition, and change:
LESSON #1
Go when and where God calls you. Even when you don’t know all the details and specifics of His plan.
This is a counter-cultural way of living, but one that is clearly spoken of and illustrated in the Bible. Abraham, Moses, John, Peter, Paul, and especially Jesus lived lives that seemed enigmatic and confusing to the people of their day. In Genesis 12 Abraham followed God’s call to leave his home and go to an unknown place that God had set apart for him. God said to him:
“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you”. (Genesis 12:1)
Those words resonated in me for weeks before we made the decision to leave Florida. I don’t put myself in the same category as Abraham, but during the past two months we have seen confirmation after confirmation that God was directing us to move on in trust back to Minnesota for the next chapter in our journey with Him. It was with both joy and sadness that we left our Florida church and home. God has already shown us that we were meant to be here in Minnesota for such a time as this. Here are two of many events that confirmed God’s call for us:
In our first week back in Minnesota I was asked to lead a memorial service for a man we knew and loved for decades. He was also the father of a dear friend of mine, and even as I felt the weight of helping his family and friends find God’s peace in the midst of sudden loss, I also knew God had called me to be there. With much prayer and preparation, the service was powerful and moving. Most importantly, God’s presence was felt by the people who were there.
A week before Christmas our oldest son, Nate, texted me to tell me he slipped and fallen on an icy Minneapolis sidewalk and incurred multiple fractures in his lower leg and was in the hospital. Because there were so many injuries on that stormy day, Nate spent 12 hours in the ER without being able to see an orthopedic surgeon. Over the next 2 weeks, through snow and ice storms, we served Nate and his family by shoveling sidewalks, taking care of our granddaughters, and bringing him to appointments and surgeries (one of which was cancelled due to a false positive Covid test). His surgery finally came 2 weeks after the injury, and he has been at home recovering since then. Even as I write this, I am sitting at a coffee shop in the hospital, waiting for Nate who is in a follow-up appointment with his surgeon.
I am certain being with our son has been God’s call for us, and it’s been a joy to spend time with Nate and our entire family. I never envisioned either of these events happening, but God did. I am thankful I could be here in Minnesota to serve my family and friends.
LESSON #2
God’s call for us is above and beyond finding earthly comfort
We are blessed to live in a country where we can freely visit and move to wonderful places like Florida. Terese and I loved our time there: Enjoying access to beaches on either side of the state, not having to put on layers of clothing, boots, and gloves, and many other perks of living in a warm climate. Yet I know deep within me that wherever we find ourselves on this earth will have both beauty and flaws. That fact serves as a reminder that in each of our hearts we have a longing for our true home, which is only found in God. The author of Psalm 90 wrote:
“ God, it seems you’ve been our home forever;
long before the mountains were born” (Psalm 90:1 The Message)
God is the source of all comfort, and our real home, peace, and fulfillment is found in Him alone. The writer of Psalm 37 put it this way:
“Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)
In other words, when our desire is for God above all else, He gives us His very presence. As much as He desires to bless us, God even more wants us to realize and experience this truth: Wherever we are on this planet can be a piece of Heaven if we allow God to move within and through us. That is the ultimate blessing and is a true foretaste of heaven. I’m not saying that God is opposed to our comfort, but instead that when earthly comforts fade and fail (and they will!) God will never fail
In my next blog I’ll share a couple more lessons from our time back in Minnesota, so I invite you to stop back and read more.
God bless you!
Chris Atkins