Spread Your Roots and Fly

A few days ago I was driving down the Sebring Parkway with everything I own in my car. On one hand I felt like I was doing pretty well to have simplified my life so much that I can actually fit it all in my car. On the other hand it felt like it was still way too much. The pile of it is now sitting in Terrah’s (a kind friend who’s let me stay for a month)  living room waiting for me to go through it and downsize again, an event that happens pretty frequently even though there’s not much to begin with. It’s a strange feeling to have so little rooting me to a place. I feel like God is getting me more and more ready to head out in a new direction (which at this moment is in the direction of Bozeman, MT to be around the man I’m going to marry in June :).  But it’s also another reminder that my roots are not in any place… my roots are in Him.

This nomadic lifestyle can feel lonely at times; this constant state of unsettled is not for the faint of heart. But this morning I found a glimmer of encouragment as I sat down at the table (Terrah’s table) with my mug of coffee (my mug…soon to given away to some lucky recipient) and I opened up the Word (God’s Word). I’m reading my way through the Bible again and I am at Joshua. There’s a whole lot of land-dividing going on at the moment. But every now and then there’s a mention of a group of people I find myself relating to more and more. The Levites.

This is how things are going for the Levites as I read Joshua…

This guy’s family gets this land. That guy gets that land. “Only to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritence; the offerings by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritence, as He spoke to them.” (Joshua 13:14)

Give this guy’s family that section. That dude over there gets this portion for ever and ever. “[But] the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritence.” (Joshua 18:7a)

 At first I felt a little sorry for them… did they feel left out?… do they feel like the last kid chosen for the kickball team? And then I read again “…the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritence, as He had promised to them.” (Joshua 13:33) God is their inheritence. God promised Himself to them as they walked out the job He had given them to do. God set it up so that there would be a group of people whose lives were completely and totally given to worship and serve Him. They were a people set apart to minister to Him. Every resource they had went toward the tabernacle… nothing for themselves. But God promised to take care of them as they served Him. He wrote into His law ways that the Levites would be taken care of; parts of the animal that was sacrificed would be given to them for food; cities to live in and pasture land to raise the sacrificial animals were given to them by each of the other tribes of Israel. The Levite’s life was not about personal wealth… everything they had was for the service of the Lord.

Now, I realize that I am not a Levitical priest… not a descendant of Aaron or Abraham for that matter. But as I give my life to Christ I am part of a “royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that [I] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called [me] out of darkness and into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Peter was writing to Gentiles… people spread out and dispersed in lands that were not their homeland. He was writing to people with no permanent home, possibly shepherds who were always on the move. He was writing to landless people… promising them a permanent inheritence as they pour out their lives to honor God. 

So as I once again pick myself up and move to a new place for an indefinite amount of time… I am confident and rooted and settled. Settled on the fact that I will “obtain an inheritence which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [me].” (1 Peter 1:4)

God is my inheritence and my portion forever.

Update time:

1. I’m going to Washington DC to record an album on Feb 4th-12th with Tony Alany at Browndog Studios. Please pray for us be united and efficient in our goal to get it all done in that week!

2. I am engaged! David proposed on Christmas Eve and I said, “Yep.” We’re getting married in June in Montana, which is why I’ll be heading up there in a few months.

3. We are going to be doing some travelling after the wedding, hopefully in an RV that someone is going to lend us , throughout the states. I hope to make some plans to play music  in churches/livingrooms of people I know. If you want us to make a stop in your town, please let me know!!!