Been here a while

It's been a while now.

I'm listening to the roosters crow in the early morning light on the day after Christmas.  I can pick and choose what I do today, but I know that soon my schedule will step back into the driver's seat. Some time early in January, when our one year anniversary of living here on Guam will come to pass, I'll likely be too busy to think much about it. So I'm taking time this morning to reflect on that coming marker on my calendar. I'm 67 years old, and  I've lived longer in this lovely little apartment on the campus of Pacific Islands University than any other place I've lived as an adult, except one. That sounds way more impressive if you don't know that Kathy lived in #1 place for more than 42 years. That doesn't leave much time for # 2 & #3. To say we have "put down roots" here would likely be an exaggeration and might belittle those who have invested so much more, though, to carry the image a bit farther, we are comfortable in the planter on the porch. For those four decades when my address was 2106 S. Carpenter Drive . . . (mail sent to that address still gets to us, by the way) I always tried to maintain the spirit of the old song, "This world is not my home. I'm just passing through." Now, in a sense, that homeless for Christ mentality is easier to maintain, but only in a sense. I find in me a kinship with Jonah, who came to regard the plant that shaded him as his in a particular and powerful sense. Usually, I have a pretty clear idea what I'm thinking about when I write "Something to Think About." This morning, not so much. I guess the best I can do, as I consider my anniversary of living in Mangilao Guam, is to share two things to think about, which might seem contradictory, but which I don't think are: Being transplanted is painful, for some more than others, we have a tendency to resist putting down roots--even in the pot on the porch--knowing that the next move is coming. Resist that self-protective urge. Be where you are. Nothing in the world is permanent. Jesus said of Himself, "Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head" (Luke 9:58). Do we think we are better than He? It's STTA (Something To Think About).