A Tree Planted by Streams of Water: A Chicago Update

It's been over a month since my wife and I moved to Chicago. It's been longer since I sent out any official update. And as I sit here thinking how exactly to describe what has happened in that time I am reminded of our very first weekend here in the city.

My wife and I took a walk along the beach of Lake Michigan that first Sabbath. She was surprised to see trees on the beach. She lived on the East Coast her whole life and so her experience of beaches was the ocean. Most trees do not do well with salt water. Her surprise caused me to stop and actually look at the tree. I was instantly reminded of Psalm 1. As I think back over this past month I realize that it is when I delight in the Lord that I am blessed and at peace.

Faith Like Abram: A Chicago Update

Abram’s family must have thought he was crazy. He left his family and the security of his ancestral home to go to a land that he did not know. More than that, he left to go to an unspecified place. He didn’t leave to go to a place he had heard of but never visited. He went to a completely unknown land. All he knew was that he needed to go.

I feel a bit like Abram. My wife and I will be moving to Chicagoland in September. We’re not moving because of a job. We don’t have those lined up yet. We’re not moving because we know someone. Neither of us have family in the area we’re moving to. We don’t even have a place to stay when we move there. What we do know is that God has called us and so we’re going. Against conventional wisdom, without friends and family, because we want to be obedient to God.