There’s no place like home

Home! What a wonderful word! An idea that encapsulates so much that is comfortable and familiar yet at the same time something absent or undiscovered. I love this quote by poet Maya Angelou: The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

The ache for home lives in all of us.

Maya Angelou

If we’re honest, to one extent or another, we’ve all only partly found Home; we rest in these places (and peoples!) that give us a sense of belonging. But no matter how sweet those people and places are, they are a shadow of Home. Our hearts still long for what the prophet Zephaniah envisioned. “At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home.“

At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home.

Zephaniah 3:20

As I wrote last Fall, we’ve been forced to rethink what home and neighborliness looks like, as we spend most of our year traveling place to place every other week. It’s been helpful to think through what these ideas really mean. But the ideas don’t mean anything without our bodies. That is, home neighbors, hospitality – these aren’t just ideas, they’re physical realities, tangible actions, embodied truths. We can’t just think about them. We have to live them out.

Well, this is a really roundabout way to tell you that we have purchased a house!

When we got on the road early in 2019, we had no idea what Home would look like. In the months that followed, we traveled to a number of churches and communities around the country, we spent the summer in our RV at beautiful Life Action Camp in SW Michigan, and we traveled 7,000 miles seeing friends and family over the holidays. More recently, we transitioned to doing all of life (meals, school, work, play) in our RV during two (cold) months of quarantine. Our prayer since the beginning of this year has been that God would provide a better space for us to land during our travel breaks – a place where we could really find some rest.

Well, in May, God did that in a way we weren’t looking for. I won’t bore you with details, but we were able to purchase a house here in Michigan, close to Life Action, with plenty of space, and well under the market price.

We moved in late in May and are finally getting near the end of getting settled in. Words fail when I try to express the relief we enjoy at having space, not only to rest ourselves, but also to welcome others. Right after we moved, Amanda came across a beautiful song that perfectly captured our vision for any space God gives us – we want a crowded table that welcomes the brokenness and the mess with love and hope.

A couple of thoughts to close, maybe some questions that are on your mind.

1. What about our house in Virginia? Well, it remains rented out until next June. Right now, it’s a source of income for us, but we’re really not sure what that will look like next year. Pray that God will give us wisdom in how to best utilize that resource for his Kingdom.
2. What do you need? We’ve had a few people ask us that question, for which we’re are so thankful. God’s provided so well for us, and in one sense, we don’t lack anything. That being said, we are in need of monthly supporters to reach 100%. We also have various incidental needs (you know how many things come up when you buy a house!). If you’re interested in regular support, or even in a one-time gift, you can go to our support site or just reach out at garrettlee@lifeaction.org. I’d be happy to talk about some more details.
3. Are you still traveling? As of right now, all the churches that have us scheduled for the Fall and Spring are ready to welcome our team. There are some challenges we’ll have to address, like distancing, PPE, infection risks… but our new team is arriving here in MI in less than a month to begin training for the upcoming travel season.

Thanks for following us on this journey. Amidst all the turmoil of the past few months, we’re so amazed that God’s given us this place to call Home for now. If you’re in the area, swing on by! The door is always open… and everyone belongs…

_{Key Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash}