Knowing Your Place - Brian Howard

“And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Genesis 12:5-6 (ESV)

God-Specified Place

Haran, Canaan, Shechem, Moreh. In Genesis 12, there's a major movement for Abram and his family as God calls them to “the land I will show you.” The four locations in verses 5-6 are just a few. Read on into the next chapters and you’ll find places like Bethel, the Negeb, Egypt, the Jordan Valley, the oaks of Mamre, and more. These are all specific places at a specific time. God specified them as the waypoints and destinations that he would use to bring about his work.

God-Defined Place

Years ago, when I was a young Associate Pastor serving in a commuter community near Charlotte, NC, I sensed that the Lord was leading me to move on after 6 years in that dear church. I sent my information to several large suburban churches and made inquiries at a few of-the-moment ministries that would’ve been perfect for a pastor in his mid-twenties. But one day, out of the blue, I received a call from a small church in rural SC. Slowly, the Lord closed a few doors, opened others, and in that slow-yet-fast way that he often does, led me to this new place. 

On my first visit, my wife and I made a wrong turn and found ourselves on a dirt path in the middle of a cornfield. Not a dirt road, mind you. But a dirt path. We eventually found our way. As we pulled into the gravel parking lot that Sunday morning and parked our Accord amidst a dozen or so Silverados and F-150s, my wife said, where have you taken us? But later on that Lord’s Day, after an hour-long worship service and an hour-long lunch, we both acknowledged, “This is the place God is taking us.” God was defining for us the place he wanted us to be.

God-Created Place

Over the next 9 years, the heart of that church and the heart of our family grew together. In time, we began to see why the Lord had called our family and that church together for that specified time and place. And from that fruitful time, I developed a greater appreciation for a sense of God-created place. This was a deep-root kind of community. The places were marked in memory. Out on a nearby river one day, someone pointed out, “That’s where, so-and-so’s brother drowned. There was nothing we could do.” Another time, someone gave me directions to their house, saying, “Turn left where the old mill used to be.” One afternoon, a tender-hearted member dropped off a beautiful hanging plant. She explained, “I made the cutting from the original that’s been in my family for 90 years.”

God’s Call to A Place

As is the case in ministry, after 9 years, the Lord called me to another church and place. I’ve now been in my current call for 4 years, eager to abide in this place as I did before in other places. Not too long ago, we met up with some families at a nearby waterfall for a picnic. Many of them grew up in the area and have lived here for decades. “I bet you used to come here all the time when you were a teenager,” I said. “Actually, this is my first time” was the reply. 

All too often, we make a living in a place, but don’t truly livethere. It’s been said that “if you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are.” Pastors sense a call to a church, but may unintentionally neglect the call to a place. And yet, the local history of the community we minister in is integral to the day-to-day calling in which we seek meaning. I’m enriched when I find I can be not just a pastor to this place, but a pastor inthis place. Until I’m called to my Eternal Place with Christ, let me meet the people of Haran, discover an oak of Moreh, or make a memory at Bethel. Let me abide in this not-quite-Canaan for a while.

-Brian Howard

Jamestown, NC

July, 2021