Unlike our old 1950’s-era, ranch-style tract home in SoCal, our new home is a 1910 farmhouse on an acre of land. We are just a mile from the church, conveniently located near shopping and city centers, yet it feels like we live in the country. The furniture we have acquired over the years consists mostly of antiques, so Julie commented that our stuff looked more appropriate here than in our old home…and she’s right! Much of our furniture is about the same age as our house. We love it’s charm and character, and the huge trees we can see out of virtually every window.
We arrived with fall at its peak, and the autumn colors were delightful. It’s been crisp, cold, somewhat rainy, and even one day with a light snowfall. We love the change of seasons and the beauty of God’s creation all around us.
Our new church family has been warm, welcoming, loving, affirming, and gracious. I feel like God has been preparing us for this time and place and season of ministry for many, many years.
In other words: we are truly overwhelmed and we feel very blessed to be here. And yet…in these first weeks, it really hit me that God has asked us to “start over”.
In just about every way.
We are in a new city, at a new church, in a new kind of home, with new neighbors, and a whole bunch of new friends. I go to work in a new office, where the routines and practices are different.
It’s all good…yet there is a deeper sense than ever before that the Lord truly is our foundation. When you live in one place for a long time, as we did, it is so easy to become secure in the familiarity of the place, and the people, and the things around you. And it is easy for us to mistake this sense of security in the people and the place for the trust and reliance we should place in our Lord.
Because everything here is so new, we do not have the luxury of this false sense of security. As a result, we find ourselves holding much more firmly onto God. This is good…and I hope to never lose this deeper sense of reliance upon Him, realizing that He is – and must be – my foundation. Over time, I know that we will feel increasingly at home here, and that we will develop wonderful and intimate friendships…just as we did in Fullerton. But I don’t want to let the strength of those friendships or the familiarity of the place ever dilute my trust in, and my reliance upon, the Lord God Almighty.
Still, it is odd and strange and weird and wonderful to be starting over in my 50’s. And I am reminded regularly of the overwhelming newness of my life here in Oregon. For example, I had gone to the same building in Placentia, every two weeks, for nearly 20 years for chiropractic treatment. I had my last adjustment 3 days before we moved…and on Monday I had my first visit with the new chiropractor. He seems like a wonderful doctor – very knowledgeable and skillfull – with a helpful and courteous assistant. But he’s another new presence in my life; another reminder that all of my routines…all of them…are starting fresh. (Even old & familiar routines – like my daily time with the Lord – somehow seem new and different because they are taking place in a new location.)
I’m discovering that this newness leads to a sense of fragility…but also to a deep sense of excitement. An air of expectancy and anticipation. There is the great joy of discovery as we get to know the people (of Garden Way Church and the communities of Eugene/Springfield)…and the great fun of discovering the unique qualities of this place and these people.
But as I reflect on what it means to “start over”, I find myself arriving at what may be the most important conclusion of all: I now have the privilege and opportunity to more fully live out all that God has been building into me for the past year.
- Bruce
