Wherever is Your Heart I Call Home

"The Lord Your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

 I wanted very much to have a place to share my thoughts on my travels and perhaps on the off chance encourage even one person to pack a bag one day and go somewhere they've never been, surrounded by food they've never tasted and a language they've never spoken.  However, that's not all I want out of my writing.  I don't want to just inspire adventure. I want to inspire opening our eyes at all times to the wild paths around us.  Driving home the other night, I felt like I wanted to write again, but I wanted to tell people why a wanderer does not have to be lost, as Tolkien said.  I want to explain why the particular tune this wanderer sings never tires.  I want to explain what keeps the melody flowing and what creates the songs in my heart.  I believe the answer is, that no matter where my feet take me, my soul has already found its home in Jesus.


In a new place, in a new scary situation, when everything around me feels foreign, my soul has still been anchored in the Lord. (Here's where I would cue a magnificent rendition of the setting of Moses Hogan's My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord- see video here )  The truth is I can never be alone or lost again.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I can most assuredly get lost finding my way around this earth, but if I can continue to yearn to look for Jesus wherever I am, in every circumstance, then I can find a constant.  There is wisdom and comfort in knowing that Jesus is active in Oklahoma and active in Paris, Ethiopia, Sydney or Rome, and that He does not just reside inside a church building and He doesn't want your faith to either.  He calls us out to the farthest lands and to that scary place just on the outskirts of our comfort zones.  He may ask you to let your feet take you to a mud hut in a third world country, or even somewhere so terrifying as your co-worker's desk.  You may lay hands on the homeless and terminally sick, and you may lay hands on the friend with the crumbling marriage or son that has passed.  This is why we travel.  Why we get out of our homes.  Because we are called to go.

Also, on this drive home I had Hillsong's, "Oceans" playing on repeat.  I used to sing those lines with such courage and boldness.  Fear was far from my mind as I declared:


"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever You would call me.  Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior."   

I sang along in the car with one hand held up, and two eyes dripping tears.  (Sorry to any Tulsa people who saw the crazy lady pass by.)  All I could think was, this is so scary.  Asking this of You, Jesus, is so so scary to me.  To really be lead to a place where my trust no longer knows borders means that I have had to lean into God enough that I know He is faithful.  It means that if I were to find myself in a place where I look all around me and I don't see God's hand or I don't know the answer to the problems, than I still trust without wavering.  It means that I am saying to God, let me walk upon the waters, waters that could very well overtake me, if that is where You would have me walk.  Take me deeper be it through pain or joy. Finally that last line, if I am in a situation where I am in need of a savior, then I know it will be a circumstance where I myself cannot get out of it without Him.

I couldn't sing it with the same fervor.  That song was normally one I sang with as much power and certainty as Peter when he is telling Jesus, "Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You." Who then just a few short verses down in Matthew 26 denies to have ever known Christ, not once, but three times.  Rather, it was with this voice of Peter that returned to God broken and ashamed after seeing how strong he was (or weak rather) on his own power that I sang that song on the drive home.     

I am scared to tell Jesus that I am okay with walking strictly by faith.  I would love to tell Him that with my mouth, but then secretly pray that in His goodness He will choose to give me a little glimpse of something down the road, some clue as to how He is working all things together for good.  Yet, I may not have a glimpse of it and that is where trust loses its borders.  That is where the waters that could drown me no longer bring fear to my heart, but they are diminished in the fear that would take over if I were to try to walk without my Jesus.  

So let's all decide to travel this week.  Please, let me know what "trips" you take!  Did you seek out the person at your kid's ballgame who looks like they needed a kind conversation?  Did you take 2 extra minutes at the end of class to make sure the kid who was extra quiet today didn't need to have someone ask if everything is okay? Did you travel to another state by way of phone call and find yourself speaking in your sibling or parents' ear that you were sorry, or that you missed them?  Maybe in the end this week you will travel so far as your living room to take a trip down into the hearts of your family and see if you can find what Jesus needs you to do in the depths of those places.

He is calling us out.  Go.  


- Court

P.S. Also, while you're out there "going" take a moment to go outside. Fall is upon us people, time for camping, campfires and porch sitting! 

*Link to: Ocean's (Where Feet May Fail) - Hillsong United

*Link to: Matthew 26 

*Note: All photos posted are my own.