The scripture passage for Sunday's sermon is Genesis 12:1-9. What are your thoughts on this passage? How does this scripture intersect with your own life experience?
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
I have great admiration for my sister, Jess Andres.
I've moved before. In fact, now that I'm in Pasadena, I've done it twice. It's a difficult process. Externally, that difficult process means boxing up everything you own. It means planning a long and arduous road trip. It means finding housing in a place where you don't live. That is, not yet. It means shelling out a lot of cash to pay for a rental truck. It means using an unbelievable amount muscle power to move all of those boxes into said rental truck. It's hard work.
But internally, it's just as difficult, and I would say more difficult. It means saying goodbye (at least in a physical way) to others - loved ones who have been a part of daily existence for years. It means going to your favorite places for the last time - restaurants, grocery stores, scenic views. It means saying goodbye to the way life has been and saying hello to what it might be. And what it might be is rather uncertain.
I've done this before. It's never easy.
And I must say that the entire process makes me have great admiration for my sister, Jess Andres.
Why is that? Oh. . .I admire her for many reasons. I admire that she asks tough questions. I admire that she laughs hard. I admire that she seeks ultimate meaning for her life, that she's willing to try new things. These days she's working extremely hard, going to culinary school full time while also working full time.
But for the purpose of this post, I say that I admire her because she followed a call, and I hardly have the words to express how much I have received because she said yes to it.
Jess and I both grew up in Southern Indiana, and we met in our early 20s while waiting tables together at Tucker's American Favorites. We hit it off right away, and we would often have meaningful conversation after work. I moved to Austin, Texas in 2005, and we stayed in touch from time to time, but rather nominally.
But something was at work in her over the next couple of years. "Move to Texas. . . move to Texas. . . move to Texas. . ." An impetus within her (or beyond her?) would not seem to leave her alone. For several years, she wrestled with this inner voice, this call to take her across the country to a place where she had never been before.
And after thinking through the process for several years, she took a risk. A big risk. She did it. What was the big risk? She had never visited Texas before! She didn't know what she would do exactly when she arrived. But she knew she had to be there.
So she packed up her car and drove across the country. She was willing to stare uncertainty right in the face and to let unknown gifts reach her when they would. They did.
I have great admiration for my sister, Jess Andres.
Those gifts reached me in good time as well. I gained a sister, and in so many ways, that feels literally true. Jess reached Austin, Texas, and in our first few months together, we learned just how much shared memory we have.
We went to the same elementary school. (She was one grade ahead of me).
We were once in the same piano recital in a public library.
And for crying out loud, I even found her in one of MY home videos!
That's incredible. Our lives have so much commonality.
All of the sudden, we had shared memory from childhood and young adulthood. And we shared a common set of friends, both in Indiana and Texas. Jess quickly fell into relationships with my best friends in Texas. Jess became my best friend too.
And all of the sudden, I had a sister. I'm an only child. I've never had a person in my life with so much shared memory and history! I love to say to her, "Oh, do you remember this? Or that?" from our tiny hometown Floyds Knobs, Indiana.
Jess continues to receive so much from following the call to get outside her comfort zone. And many of us have benefited because she took the risk.
I have great admiration for my sister, Jess Andres.
How does this scripture intersect with your life?
-Renee Roederer
PPC L.I.F.T.
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