I first sensed a stirring towards Colombia when I was still in high school. I had gone on a church trip to Peru, and for some reason the neighboring country – land of drug dealers, guerillas, and paramilitary activity drew my attention. I was volunteering weekly at the local Salvation Army kitchen during my senior year of high school when, in the same week I was researching ministry options in Colombia, a man who came for lunch told me that’s where he was born and raised. I sensed a quickening in my heart and what felt like a significant confirmation. Six years later, I made my move to Colombia. The years of prayer and preparation had finally led me to that point. I had arrived at my destination.
I wrote yesterday about how Abram arrived at Shechem in the land of Canaan after several weeks of travel. He built an altar to the Lord – an Altar of Obedience, commemorating his journey of faith. But the Lord wasn’t just sending him to Shechem. He recognized that he was called to follow God wherever and whenever He led. We read, “Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent… and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord” (Gen 12:8).
God called Abram to Shechem as one stop on his journey. This is a regular pattern in the life of global gospel workers. In fact, a leader in the region recently told me that he estimates that only one in ten of our workers in the Arab World are in the same country where they started! When I moved to Colombia, I thought I would be there for the rest of my life. But now I can see that the Lord did call me for that season to Colombia, but it was only one step in the plan that He had for me.
It is significant to me that Abram pitched his tent. He didn’t build a house. He didn’t settle in Bethel in a way that would keep him from picking up and moving whenever the Lord called. The next verse tells us that he continued his journey toward Negev. The writer of Hebrews highlights Abram’s living situation, too, telling us, “By faith he sojourned in the land of the promise, as in a foreign country, having dwelt in tents…” (Heb 11:9).
I love camping. Though I would generally choose my hammock over a tent, there’s something nostalgic to me about the sound of the zipper and the feel of the nylon. I have many wonderful memories – both as a child and in recent years – of setting up a temporary dwelling place for a night or two. But I don’t want to live camping. I want to live settled. I want to live in a permanent dwelling, a place where I am not exposed to the elements. I want the permanence of home.
Where was home for Abram? Was it Ur of the Chaldeans, the place where he grew up? Was it Haran, where he lived for years with his family? Was it Canaan, the land God was promising to his descendants? Or… was it somewhere else? Hebrews tells us that Abraham was among those “seeking a homeland” yet acknowledging “that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb 11:14,13).
Abram could live as a nomad, letting go of roots, sleeping in a tent, because he was looking forward to a heavenly home. He recognized that his call was obedience in faith – and that God would take care of him in the process. When he pitched his tent in Bethel, he once again built an altar – perhaps we could call this the Altar of Pilgrimage. He knew that his home was not in Shechem or Bethel. He was “longing for a better country, a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). He would continue his pilgrimage as long as the Lord led.
Ever since moving to the Middle East in 2014, I have not had any period of six months without some sort of international travel. In fact, I was excited that I would be returning to the country where I live in March and had no travel plans until July – a rare exception to my normal rhythm. Yet, here I am, in a country where I did not expect, hope, or plan to spend more than a few weeks. I have a sense of being a stranger and an exile in this place. Yet, I know that the country where I live is also not my true home. I am longing for a heavenly country. So today, I build my Altar of Pilgrimage and re-commit myself to follow the leading of the Spirit each step of the way.
Perhaps you, too, are sensing a change. Perhaps the Lord has led you to a certain place, and now He’s leading you in a different direction. Giving up the security of home may feel like a risk, but as we look toward our secured future, we can trust that the Lord will take care of us step by step as He leads us home.