Twenty years ago I was set to move from London to Stoke-on-Trent.
It was in a lot of ways a very questionable move. It was certainly questioned by my parents. I was not born in London and I didn’t grow up there. I reached London having done the studying at university and found a place to work there. Things certainly looked promising for me there. So the thought of turning my back on that was … questionable. It was one thing to move from London, it was even more incredulous to leave the place where it was happening, dynamic, thriving and full of potential to move to … Stoke-on-Trent.
Understandably, there are those in the city of Stoke-on-Trent who love the place. They love it and are keen for others who visit and choose to live there to appreciate its merits. There are indeed merits to Stoke-on-Trent. Yet in the eyes of those who know about London and know little about Stoke-on-Trent swapping the former for the latter was … questionable.
I understood those questions all the more in my initial days, weeks … and yes months in the city. There may well have been merits to the city, but the initial impressions gave me the feeling that moving up might have been somewhat … questionable.
Here’s the thing about it though, twenty years on. I certainly do not regret moving up to the city. I did not make the move on a whim. Moving turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. That wasn’t because of the city I was leaving or the city I was moving to. It was one of the best decisions, because of the reason for the move.
God calls people to live in certain places at certain times to go through certain experiences with the primary purpose of learning about Him, loving Him more and living the life that He created us for. Getting that in my mind required a few days of intense prayer and study. A few days of intentional conversation with others and searching on my own. An opportunity opened up in Stoke-on-Trent that was an answer to prayer – a prayer I had for a few years. Even then, that was not the clincher.
The clincher came after a weekend spent on the outskirts of the city for a prayer gathering. Among other things we considered the character of Gideon. A remarkable thing about him is how his character changed as he learnt to obey the instructions of God. Listen to Him, follow Him and see His trustworthy nature in action. That would lead to an amazing victory for the Israelites from an unlikely man in Gideon. All because he learnt. And in learning his mind was made new from someone who thought he wasn’t worthy of the responsibility to someone who was able to lead his men to victory. That required a renewing of the mind.
It was fitting, then, that a theme that reverberated in my initial time in the city was about Paul’s encouragement to be transformed by the renewing of our minds to discover the good, perfect and acceptable will of God.
When we do that and focus on the desire to do the will of God, that might call for relocation. Not just a physical relocation, but largely one of character from a stage where you don’t think you can to where you believe you can through Him who gives you the strength.
Twenty years later I live in Stoke-on-Trent – I haven’t spent all the intervening years in the city, but 16 of those were spent in various places around the city. I am here because this is where I believe God wants me to be. That in no way means, however that the issue movement where the things of God are concerned has come to an end. I get the distinct impression in the time to come movement will again be significant. That will be clearly discerned however in time of prayer, study, conversation with others and personal searching.
God is faithful to keep leading. It still requires the renewing of our minds to see where He’s leading – even if others find it … questionable.
(Photo by Ben White on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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