Inca Court was a little utopian outpost on the frontier of a fledgling dystopian America.  The small suburban Atlanta street where I grew up had only ten houses.  Until I left home for college, it was the only home I had ever known.  None of the families on our street ever moved in or out.  None of the parents in any of those homes ever moved in or out.  We never knew the curiosity of new neighbors and never coped with the stress of leaving Inca Court behind. There were no Moving Days on Inca Court. In a mobile society marked by constant transition, Inca Court was sociological anomaly.

My first significant move was phenomenally stressful – filled with logistical angst and existential self-doubt.  Was I crazy to leave the familiar, the comfortable, the settled, the influential, the known – even with its problems and challenges – for the uncomfortable, the unsettled, the uninfluential, the unknown?  Life transitions are fertile fields for lush and verdant anxiety, yet as followers of Jesus, we have been chosen to live a pilgrim life and to farm these fields.  Our God is always moving, always at work, even to this very day.  To be a follower means to follow – to follow a God who never changes, but often calls us to change, a God who never leaves or forsakes, but often calls us to leave and forsake.  Followers of Christ in scripture were often on the move, tracing the movement of God.

But… When do we go?  How do we leave?  How do we know?  How do we tell them we are leaving?  What will happen when we leave?  Or when we arrive?  Following God and leaving the familiar is tough.  In Genesis 31, Jacob senses it is time to go. God calls him to leave his in-laws and return to Canaan.  But like us, Jacob’s relationships are complex and complicated.  How and when should he leave?  How should he approach the issue with his family?  What will he leave behind and what will he find ahead of him?  Leaving is tough.

Join us this Lord’s Day, January 28, as we continue to trace the story of Jacob from Genesis 31 as he flees deteriorating relationships with his in-laws to return to Canaan, where his embittered brother Esau awaits.  In this account we see some critical truths about following God when he brings us to Moving Day.  We meet from 5:00 – 6:30 pm in The Commons at St. Andrews Anglican Church at 8300 Kanis Rd in Little Rock.  Click here for directions. Come with a friend you and join us for fellowship and conversation. We look forward to seeing you there.