To Whom Will I Run
He’ll be your mother and your father, He’ll even be your pastor.
If you’re reading this, then by now, you’ve probably encountered a situation in your life that felt beyond your ability to control. Maybe you’ve been looking for friends, but haven’t found any faith friends to really form a bond with, or maybe you’re considering school or college options and are looking for direction, or maybe you feel something stirring in your heart, but you’re not sure what to do about it. Or maybe its more specific- perhaps there are things going on in your family that you want to see change, but don’t know what to do. Here’s what I’m learning- life is like that. We live in what we call a “fallen world,” meaning that the perfect creation that God made in the beginning was contaminated by sin and deception, and so while we are on earth, there will be things that don’t seem to add up to what we know is the perfect plan of God. In John 16:33 NLT Jesus says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Notice the “but?” It’s important. But.
When I was getting ready to leave for college (I was going out of state, about 10 hours away from home), my Pastors and church family prayed over me my last week at home. My grandparents actually founded the church in which I grew up, and my aunt and uncle had taken the roles of lead pastors when my grandfather passed away. So they invited my grandmother, the matriarch of the church to say a prayer over me as well. She hugged me tight and wept in the Presence of God, and prayed over me. And then she said something that I have never forgotten and to which have often returned; she said, “He’ll be your mother and your father. He’ll even be your pastor.”
My grandmother knew what it was like to be away from home. Though she had lived in various places around the country as a young woman, when she met and married my grandfather (they were both evangelists), they felt led to leave their home and family in Missouri to come to rural Ohio to pastor a church. Not exactly a stone’s throw away. She was very connected to her home and family, and moving this way was difficult for her.
I knew when she told me that she spoke from experience. I did not know that I would experience the same.
There is something about being away from what you’ve always known that can make you feel like you’re on an island. I think this happens not just when we move away, but also when we’re not where we used to be, but yet we’re not where we’re going to be. When we’re in transition. When we’re in the middle. Maybe you’re hitting a milestone, like becoming a teenager or entering high school. Maybe you feel like you’re learning some things that you’ve never known before that are causing some questions. Maybe you feel like you’re not exactly sure who you are. The thing is, when we find ourselves in these places of busy crossroads or lonely backroads, there is one thing we always carry with us: our relationship with God. He’ll be your mother and your father, He’ll even be your pastor.
