[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fmoving":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fmoving-surround":81},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":63,"date":64,"description":16,"extension":65,"image":66,"meta":67,"minRead":68,"navigation":69,"path":70,"postType":71,"publication":72,"publicationUrl":66,"seo":73,"stem":74,"topics":75,"__hash__":80},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fmoving.md","Moving",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"Hebrews",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":59},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38,41,44,47,50,53,56],[14,15,16],"p",{},"As the sun set on a quiet evening not long ago, I grabbed my hoe from its familiar hook on the garage wall and walked to the backyard. It was time to plant my garden—the last time, as a matter of fact. After 11 years in the same house, my family had decided to move.",[14,18,19],{},"Chopping at the warm soil with my hoe, I noticed that the dirt seemed looser and more tillable than in the past. \"It's taken me 11 years to get this garden in good condition,\" I mused with a bit of consternation, \"and now I'm going to leave it for someone else to grow things in.\" After digging several rows, I tossed in some leftover seeds I'd found in the garage: peppers, lettuce, radishes, carrots. \"May as well use up whatever is left,\" I told myself.",[14,21,22],{},"Soon I took a breather and leaned against the cherry tree my friend Mike gave me seven years ago. \"It's grown tall,\" I chuckled to myself, \"but it's never produced a single cherry in seven years!\"",[14,24,25],{},"Looking around, I noticed dozens of other landmarks. Over the years, our backyard has become a museum filled with family memories. I paused to ponder each one.",[14,27,28],{},"The Rose of Sharon bushes that always bloom on my daughter's birthday. (Mindy was born in Korea. Rose of Sharon is the national flower of Korea.)",[14,30,31],{},"The apple tree my dad and I planted several years ago. (It never bears fruit either.)",[14,33,34],{},"The basement window someone broke more than once with a faulty basketball bounce.",[14,36,37],{},"The hiding places where we used to hide Easter eggs.",[14,39,40],{},"The strawberry patch that yields a handful or two of sweet-tasting berries every spring.",[14,42,43],{},"The picnic table where we entertained church friends for summer barbeques.",[14,45,46],{},"The maple tree that served as third base when my kids and I played softball—and produced piles of red leaves we raked and frolicked in during crisp fall afternoons.",[14,48,49],{},"The white picket fence my neighbor used to lean on when he talked with me on summer afternoons. (He and his family moved away last year.)",[14,51,52],{},"Because I believe in the Lord, I know I need to be steadfast and unmoveable in my faith. But also because I believe, I need to follow God's leading when he wants me to move. I understand all of this intellectually, but emotionally it's a lot more comfortable to stick with the familiar than to venture into new and unknown territory. \"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going\" (Hebrews 11:8). In my weaker moments, though, I don't feel like I'm in Abraham's league. His life? \"In tents,\" for he \"was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God\" (Hebrews 11:9, 10). My life? \"Intense,\" and sometimes I struggle to keep an eternal perspective.",[14,54,55],{},"\"It's just a house,\" I reminded myself as my eyes misted over. \"But it's been a good place to bring up our children. A safe, secure, familiar place. We've enjoyed God's blessings in this house. I'm going to miss it.\"",[14,57,58],{},"After taking one more look around, I reached for my hoe that was lying on the ground near the cherry tree. \"What's that?\" I wondered, as a cluster of ovals caught my eye. I looked up in amazement. The cherry tree's branches—all of them—were loaded with fruit.",{"title":60,"searchDepth":61,"depth":61,"links":62},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1999-08-22","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fmoving","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fmoving",[76,77,78,79],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Holy Week and Resurrection","Intergenerational Ministry","CzXvUzj0SJ69y1jDZtFrqmln-jIwZuSosHi_vbQvL-w",[82,87],{"title":83,"path":84,"stem":85,"description":86,"children":-1},"More than Watchmen","\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen","articles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen","It was like trying to sleep on a block of ice. On our way to Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, my family had set up a tiny tent in a Montana campground. Since it was the middle of summer, we naively assumed the weather would stay comfortably warm, even at night. We were wrong.",{"title":88,"path":89,"stem":90,"description":88,"children":-1},"My Day as a Dental Assistant","\u002Farticles\u002Fmy-day-as-a-dental-assistant","articles\u002Fmy-day-as-a-dental-assistant"]