"Please sign here to surrender your license." Wait. Surrender? Did I hear that right? Was there a battle and I lost? Have I been abducted by the state of Texas? The words spoken to me at the DMV as we were getting our Texas license startled me. I have only had one state of residence for the past twenty six years. It is the place that I consider home. It seemed harsh to have to surrender my license. It reminded me anew of the many changes that have occurred in our lives over the past year.
We like to be from somewhere, to have a place we call our home. We do not easily embrace the term "pilgrim" - those who journey through life, and their home is God. No state or country adequately describes our place of residence because what we are really looking for is, a city whose architect and builder is God. That really is our only permanent residence.
I thought of Abraham when God called him to a new land. Abraham also must have struggled when he was told he would have to surrender his camel license in Haran. "Trade in your tents, your father's gods, and everything you have known, and follow me. I will be your new home." These are the words Abraham heard. The dinner conversation in the tent that night must have been exciting. "Well, Pop, it's been real, hanging out with you and the family, but I am surrendering it all to follow God in a new land," Abraham announces. "You are doing what? the dad asks. "The other day while at the oasis watering the live stock, I heard God call me to a new life in a new land." Abraham continues. "Just like that, after a day in the desert sun you are leaving everything you know behind?" the father asked. "That is the long and short of it, and it does seem somewhat strange, but I sense in my spirit it is right."
I am certain other things were discussed and all parties involved were still a little confused and full of many questions. It was, after all, a complete break from Abraham's childhood home and a move in the direction of the unknown. Not exactly the same situation, but I could feel Abraham's angst when I was asked to surrender my North Dakota license.
Right at their fishing boats, the disciples felt the same emotions when Jesus called them to follow him. They left their father and the nets on shore and marched into the unknown. James and John's father must have thought, "Seriously, you are leaving me with the nets and the boat, and surrendering your fishing license at one invitation?" Just like Abraham's dinner, the scene on the shoreline must have been priceless.
In truth, it is not as much where we live, but where God dwells. Psalm 84:5 declares it best: "And how blessed are all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel." You and I will have to surrender our license and open ourselves up to a journey; not to a new house, state, or job, but to God traveling in and through our lives. God with us, in us, and before us. And since the whole earth is the Lord's, where ever God is leading in us, we are always at home.
