I made the trip from Colorado Spring, CO to Price, UT yesterday to spend some time visiting with my dad, step mom and old friends. On the way, I passed through a couple of small towns. Small towns have a certain appeal to me. I think it is related to simplicity, close friendships, and living quietly – all of which I’m trying to cultivate on a regular basis. Whilst driving through these towns, I silently dreamed of one day settling down in one of these places, pastoring a small church, serving a small community of close-knit people, walking most places, cultivating a garden so I didn’t have to purchase vegetables at a store, etc.
I imagined myself as Father Tim of the Mitford books. A man to be envied, to be sure.
The problem is, my dream was lacking. You see, no part of the dream entailed changing the world; or, at the very least, changing anything in my world. It is built upon the desire to get comfortable, settle in, and get to know God really well, but lacks any interaction with the poor, with the hurting, with those who are in need – in short, my dream doesn’t include those who would make my life uncomfortable.
And that is how I know the dream is not from God.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Comfort, Simplicity, Social Action
Interesting thought Jesse – Mark and I have gone through a similar experience, we had been talking about for a while moving back to the U.S. – to a small town in Utah – and building our “dream” house – growing our own food – living self sufficiently – the works!
as time went on we kept thinking – we are needed here… but we kept talking about that “dream”
so finally we started looking for a fixer upper here in Eindhoven, we found one – bought it – fixed it up enough that we are living in it now – it’s still a work in progress – but it serves us well – and gives us the opportunities to serve others in our community – and this is the place where we feel like God wants us to be…
and we are happy!