Moving to a New Home

In our 36 years of married life, Gene and I have moved twenty-three times in ten different locations. In each place, from a small island village to one of the largest cities in the world, we’ve built a place we called home and filled it with our love, our family, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our friends.

There are so many things I enjoy about moving. Selling or giving away all our furniture and much of our accumulated “stuff” probably tops the list. And the prospect of starting a new job, finding our way around a new town, making new friends, discovering new favorite places, this is the stuff of new adventure!

Moving Can Be Challenging

On the other hand, there are many aspects of life that can make a move challenging, difficult, or possibly even dangerous. At times, the choice to move is beyond our control. We may be forced to move for political, religious, environmental, or financial reasons.

In our jobs, we may be asked to move to a place where we have no desire to live. Some in the United States have recently had to evacuate and even rebuild homes because of destructive storms and fires. Earthquakes in other parts of the world have displaced many. Refugees risk their lives to escape warfare and hostility in their own countries, leaving homes, family, and friends behind.

I have not experienced any of these extreme conditions; however, we have been compelled to move for religious and political reasons. But we have kept in mind that God knows all that we have to endure and gives His grace to help in time of even the greatest need (I Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:16). He will readily provide for us 1) a place to go, 2) safety and protection, and 3) all our physical and material needs met.

Joseph and Mary’s Example: A Move to Bethlehem

Let’s take heart and courage from the record of Joseph and Mary in Luke 2 and Matthew 2. Joseph and Mary were a strong, faithful, devoted young couple who trusted and obeyed God. At a very inconvenient time, they had to make the eighty-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This was prompted by a command that everyone in the Roman Empire should register their official declaration of allegiance to the emperor, Caesar Augustus. Because this registration took place by lineage and Joseph was descended from the line of David, they had to go to Bethlehem.

Luke 2:1-5:
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed [registered].
(And this taxing [registration] was first made when Cyrenius was governor  of Syria.) 
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

This was not a convenient time for Joseph and Mary to be traveling. They had to accommodate not only Mary’s physical needs being great with child, but they also had to consider the care of a newborn when she did deliver.

Luke 2:6,7:
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

With all the people visiting Bethlehem, there was no proper room for them in the inn. So Mary “brought forth her firstborn son” and laid him in a manger, a feeding trough, in the stable area outside a local lodge. The scripture does not mention whether they had friends or family traveling with them or in the Bethlehem area to support them during this time. Under these circumstances, it seems they did not.

Our Move Stateside

I was seven months pregnant when we moved from our sweet little “jungle” home in Talofofo, Guam.  Our journey would ultimately take us to Tacoma, Washington where we would make our new home. Thankfully, my parents let us stay at their home in California as a “pit stop” for a couple of months until our baby was born. And both of my sisters and their families were nearby for support as well.

We flew the 6,000 miles to Los Angeles in 13 hours. Two months later, I delivered my firstborn (and only) son. Our move challenged me mentally, physically, and emotionally. But I did not spend several days walking (or riding a donkey) eighty miles before giving birth as Mary had. My sister drove me in a car forty miles to the birthing center in about forty-five minutes. I had a midwife I had never met before, but plenty of family around to support me. I did not have to give birth in the parking lot or a feeding area for livestock, I had my own room. Mary’s example still gives me inspiration to endure our challenges in life by the grace of God. And our story does not stop there; neither does Joseph and Mary’s!

Joseph and Mary’s Example: A Move to Egypt

After the registration, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus remained in Bethlehem for almost a year and a half. From their new home, they could travel the six miles to Jerusalem to fulfill what the Law required of them when Jesus was eight days old (his naming and circumcision), and again at forty-one days old (a sacrificial offering for the birth of a son and Mary’s purification). It’s here in Bethlehem that the Magi found the young child, Jesus.

Matthew 2:1-6:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

King Herod was, of course, very troubled that these wise men brought news that the Messiah, the Christ, the one chosen by God to rule Israel had been born. In his jealous wrath, he plotted to use the wise men to locate the young child so that he could destroy him.

Matthew 2:8,11,12:
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

To protect Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, God intervened in Herod’s plans and warned the Magi not to return to Jerusalem. After the wise men and their caravan departed, God had an angel instruct Joseph to flee into Egypt by night with Mary and Jesus until it was safe to return.

Matthew 2:13,14:
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.

God gave this “family on the run” the right place to go for their safety and protection. And they escaped just in time, for the next morning Herod carried out his desired slaughter of all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area.

Matthew 2:15,16:
And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Joseph and Mary’s Example: A Move Back to Nazareth

With the gifts received from the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh), Joseph and Mary had the financial means to help supply their family’s physical and material needs for their stay in Egypt and their eventual return to Israel after the death of Herod.

Matthew 2:19-21:
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.
And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

After a few months in Egypt, God sent an angel to Joseph, who revealed that the family could now move back to Israel. Joseph intended to settle in Judea, perhaps back in Bethlehem. But God once again gave Joseph the necessary direction, warning him in a dream to move with wife and child back to Nazareth.

Matthew 2:22,23:
But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

God’s Eternal Love and Care for His Children

Look at the amazing journey of this family. At a very inconvenient time, they endured a government mandated “visit” to Bethlehem from their home in Nazareth. Once in a home there, they had to flee for their lives under the cover of darkness late one night into a foreign land, Egypt. When they returned to Israel (hopefully to Judea), they found that the danger they had escaped still lurked there. So they returned to settle in Nazareth. All along the way, God always provided them 1) a place to go, 2) safety and protection, and 3) all physical and material needs met.

Our heavenly Father has done the same for Gene and me in all our twenty-three moves. He has always met our physical needs. From straw mats on a dirt floor and a mosquito net, to a top-floor room in a ritzy hotel overlooking a palm-tree-adorned beach, we have learned both how to be abased and how to abound (Philippians 4:12). God has never left us wanting for anything.

It hasn’t always been easy. We have been almost stranded in a closed airport late at night in another country, endured 13-hour, turbulence-filled flights, prayed through lockdown in a prison while running a Bible class for inmates, been lost in a city without any directional signs in English, and more. But God has kept us safe and protected through it all.

Leaving family and friends has been the most difficult part of moving for me, but God has blessed us in every new place with wonderful, dear friends who are now in our hearts for life. When we left New York, I could hardly be consoled for having to leave our dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. Honestly, it was only the thought of Christ’s return, the gathering together of the church, that gave me comfort. That’s a place as members of the body of Christ that we’ll all be moving one day!

So next time you move, or if you’re in the middle of one now, take comfort and courage from Joseph and Mary’s complete trust in God to guide, love, and protect them, and in His willingness to lovingly provide their every need. Our heavenly Father is faithful to fulfill His promises to us, His dear children, no matter what the circumstances, just as He did for them.