I wrote this post on Facebook in the fall of 2010 after transplanting my life from northeast Georgia to southern California. This second part expands on the first, shifting from my insights on the road to lessons learned after two months of a new life on the west coast.
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After moving to California, I was (and still am) reminded of my valedictorian speech and the song from which it was based: Steven Curtis Chapman’s, “Not Home Yet.” Even after concluding a mammoth 2300-mile journey that carried me through fields and deserts and mountains, I’m not Home yet.
Yes, I anticipate residing in southern California for at least the next year to come. Maybe longer. But this isn’t forever. At some point I’ll move out of this house and into another, and more than likely into still another after that. Onward I’ll progress, walking-falling-running until Jesus finally calls me Home.
I’ve often felt remiss that people would actually want this Glorious Day delayed.
But I want to get married and live out a successful career and have children and grandchildren and great-granchildren and —
Really? Why would anyone want to stay on this planet one second longer if they could go Home today? That doesn’t mean our lives don’t have purpose or value for today, but I often wonder if we aren’t yearning for Home as intensely as we should. Because if we’re getting so comfortable here that we don’t ever want to leave — well, isn’t something wrong with that mindset? Wrong with us?
Long before I reached Southern California, I had no clue how I’d support myself out here. I worked at the University of Georgia fitness center for three years, so I figured I’d apply for jobs at various gyms. I also applied at countless banks, grocery stores, and retail giants. I was fortunate to land some interviews, but ultimately nothing materialized.
Would I have even enjoyed working at any of these places, felt like my degree and talents were being put to sufficient, fulfilling use? Probably not. But hey, I moved for a fresh start, goshbegone, willing to put aside my selfish “fulfillment factor” and do whatever I had to do to make it happen, cap’n, with my brand new life.
So coming out West, I never really fathomed that God would so quickly lead me into a job that would actually fulfill me.
He led me into tutoring.
For many years, I’ve resisted the thought or mere suggestion to enter the education field. To put it bluntly, I never thought I’d make a good teacher. I’m a writer, someone who would much rather type out a valedictorian speech than deliver it before hundreds watching me. So I don’t reckon feeling comfortable manning a classroom of meddlesome kids. In addition, I don’t exactly have immediately pleasant memories of high school — yet another roadblock in my path toward reentering the dreaded classroom again.
But even though I’m still hesitant to enter the gargoyle-gated realm of teaching, I’m finding much joy in the magical fields of tutoring. I currently tutor several students in the evenings and on the weekends, and will soon start tutoring at a middle school during the day. Beyond the healthy pay, I’m enjoying the heck out of this “work.” I’m thrilled to be using the brain God gave me to help kids who don’t quite follow the distributive property or how to solve for x or q.
To be honest, I’m somewhat afraid God is “softening me” for teaching by first leading me into tutoring. But alas, I suppose I’ll cross that bridge when I hear the lion roaring at my back.
For now, and forever, God is protecting me. Leading me.
Now that I have steady work, I’m starting to settle in out here. I still experience my rough moments, still wonder if I’ll ever fully belong out here, or anywhere, and if I’m just doomed to wander the rest of my Homeless life. I do miss people and places and things in Georgia, but I know God has me here in California for a reason. And I look forward to a brief Georgian return in just a couple more months.
It’s never easy, but waiting on God is so worth it. I waited over a year to find my path out of Georgia, and God faithfully led me out. I watched my built-up savings plummet as I searched for work both in Georgia and California, and God faithfully supplied my needs.
God’s been there before, and God’s here now.
I don’t pretend to know what’s on the horizon, but I know God’s gonna be there too. He’s gonna provide and lead me from checkpoint to checkpoint, all the way to that glorious finish line. I’d love for That Day to be today, but if it’s not, I’m ready to keep chugging, keep living out my course and fighting my fight (2 Timothy 4:7). Sticking to that balance beam of a narrow path really is the best path I could ever tread, and I know He has a good and perfect plan coursed just for me (Matthew 7:13, Jeremiah 29:11).
God is God, after all. I figure He knows what He’s doing after…well, infinity.
As for me, I’m still learning after 2300 miles. But I take hope in the fact that I’m now 2300 miles closer to Home, and getting closer still with every setting of the California sun…
