This Sunday marks 8 years since I moved back home to Kentucky. Kentucky is the place I was born and raised. It feels good and right to be back here. I am deeply aware of how life changes on a day like this. Life is full of seasons.
8 years ago when my wife – Sarabeth – and I moved we only had two children and they were 3 and 1 – they are now 11 and 9. Our youngest was still a few years away from being born – he is now 6.
We moved back with the desire of me going to seminary. I got a slow start when we got down here, but I finished up in 2012.
Three of my grandparents were still living well when we returned. All three of them have passed in the past 8 years. Their presence is deeply missed.
Friends for the first few years were hard to come by. Now we have dear friends that surround us here at home in Kentucky.
A church was hard to find also. Took us over a year and half to find a place to settle in at, but now it is hard to imagine not sharing life with those at First Fire.
The house we live in on my father’s farm was not here at 8 years ago – today what was once a hay field contains our home, a garden, a barn, 12 sheep, 30 chickens, a cat, a turkey and too many dogs name.
So many other things have changed, grown and shifted. Not all the movements have been fun, but they have been needed. God has a way of shaping our story. He has a special way of inviting us to participate in His story. He has a way of inviting us to grow where we are planted. I am glad that I have been planted here.
Kentucky has grown into a place that is deeply home. It was home by name as a kid – I had no choice in where I lived. Now, it is home by choice. It is the place where I love saying, “I am from here.”
Are you growing where you have been planted? Is your heart missing home? Are you experiencing life in a deep way in the place where you live?