Inca Court was a utopian outpost on the frontier of a dystopian suburbia.  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 know where to go?  Or what will happen one the way?  Or when we arrive? What will we leave behind and what will we find ahead?   Following God and leaving the familiar is tough.  But he does not simply push us out of the nest to find our own way.  Nor does he send us unaccompanied.   The Lord promises to go with us and provide us with direction, encouragement, and provision for the journey.

In Exodus 13:17-22, the narrative of Exodus transitions from God visiting his people in Egypt to God leading his people into the Promised Land.  To prepare the people for the move God gives three things we need as we follow Christ: his plan, his promise, and his presence.  God lays out the route, sends them with the bones of Joseph, and appears to them as the pillar of cloud and fire.   All to make it easier for the Israelites to follow.  

Join us as we examine the departure of Israel from Egypt in Exodus 13:17-22.  And as we consider some critical truths about following God when he brings us to our own 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 for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  You can also join us on Facebook Live @RiverCityARP or on YouTube.