I was driving this past weekend. I went from GA to Greensboro, NC, Greensboro to Wilmington, and Wilmington to Topsail, NC and then back. On my first way through Greensboro I unloaded my parents suburban full of containers of things that I brought down to Georgia, thinking I would be here fairly permanently. I moved everything I still own in this funny world. The past 4 months most of those boxes have sat in a closet, waiting to be moved into a more permanent home. As I unloaded my life back into my parents’ house, a place I really haven’t lived for going on 7 years, I realized. I am a Nomad.
A Nomad by definition is:
“A member of a people who have no permanent abode and travel from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock.”
Ok, so technically I am not wandering from place to place to find fresh pasture and livestock. I am pretty content with my pasture where I am at and the livestock is just lovely. But I currently do not have a permanent abode. I have been traveling (not aimlessly wandering), more like moving in different directions with purpose, intention and directions from the Lord for going on 18 months and will continue this for who knows how much longer. My next stop is Hawaii, I will be there from January 14th until May 25th participating in an Internship at Sea Life Park and then who knows where or when or why after that.
By definition I don’t have a home. I don’t have one place where all my belongings are. I don’t have a bed that I have consistently slept in for longer than 3 months at a time. I am in a constant state of a majority of my things being in a suitcase, never really fully being unpacked. I haven’t been in a kitchen where I know where all the things are and all of the things are mine in 18 months. I haven’t nested or decorated a home in ages. I have boxes of decorations and kitchen supplies waiting for me to unpack them and use them.
Gosh that sounds atrosish! So what am I doing? I am walking one foot in front of the other. I am taking one step at a time. I don’t understand fully why the Lord does things, I don’t understand His timing, and I don’t understand why I am not settling down anytime soon. But I do know that I love every second of it. I love trusting Him with my next steps. I love not seeing the big picture and just trusting that He sees the whole path and it is good because He is good and He is love and by definition He can be nothing else but love. I love that every step I take forward is a step closer to the things that He is calling me into and trusting me with. So, no I don’t have a house of my own that I can call home but, God is my home. Don’t people always say, “Home is where your heart is”? My heart is with Jesus, therefore He is my home and I guess that’s a pretty great place to be.
The other day I went for a walk and I saw this huge tree, it was a sturdy, well-grown tree. It had countless branches stemming off the one trunk. Covering and completely engulfing those branches were vines. The vines had more leaves than anything I had every seen. As I stopped to admire this tree, cars slowed down and looked. I think they thought I must have been looking at a Koala or something.
As I looked at this tree, surrounded by vines, I thought, what If our lives were like those branches. What if we were the branches and all of the vines that surrounded them were the fruit of our ministry. What if those vines represented all of the people that we have talked to about Jesus? The countless, intertwined vines all leading back to one source (Jesus) and all rooted in one trunk (God).
I am a nomad. I love it. And I love it because I want my life to be like a branch on that tree. I want there to be so many vines sprouting off of my life that all you see is Jesus, you cant even see the branch (me) anymore because there are too many vines covering it, engulfing it, making the branch take a new look a new form. You no longer see the imperfections and brokenness of the tree, of the bark that has been so weathered. All you see are the fresh, new, clean vines that have covered this branch and made it a new creation.
Its funny as I was writing this and thinking about this, I completely forgot about this verse and then as I was finishing that last sentence it was like AHA! Kristen, duh!
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
~ John 15:5
Lets go wander the world! Wherever Jesus takes us. Let’s be those branches and lets make some fruit!
I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and prayers! Each one of you is a blessing to this dear and precious life I live.
Love, Love, Love, Love, Love
Kristen
