As of Saturday, November 18, Banu and I officially (once again) became residents of the Volunteer State, formerly of the Empire State. The “once again” is covered in the previous post.
We had a stopping off point, spending the night at a hotel in Florence, Kentucky. Florence, y’all!
My body and (brain!) are getting used to the Central Time Zone. Not that it’s a case of jet lag, but it still seems too early for everything—especially at night. However, one tiny indicator of a change of place happened when I was listening to a particular radio station. I was thinking, it’s too bad I’ll soon be leaving. Then it dawned on me, and I made it a select button. I will confess, I miss good chocolate beer (at least, I haven’t found it yet)—and a ubiquitous commitment to recycling.
[My sister Kristen and I preparing to leave New York]
As of this writing, Banu and I have spent four nights here. Thankfully, our unpacking is almost complete. There has been the question of moving our possessions into a limited space. We will be here for a number of months, and then be branching out to Florida.
[We arrive in Tennessee. Our dog Ronan makes an appearance in the lower left corner]
We have made inquiries into the Alliance of Reformed Churches, joining in on some group discussions and prayer meetings. That is, before we moved. Now that we are in Tennessee, we continue to become more involved with that ministry.
But it’s much more than that.
Banu is exploring her calling as an apostle. Honestly, she has been a “closet apostle” for many years, but she didn’t feel the freedom to fully express that within the confines of pastoral parish ministry. I still feel the call to be a pastor (or shepherd, as some call it). Maybe even more so, there is the call to be a teacher and writer. I will confess that my selected genre (perhaps without the enduring guidance of the Holy Spirit) has been that of the sermon. I even proudly announced that to my roommate in seminary!
On the note of proudly announcing, the prophet in Isaiah 58 begins, “Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!”
Maybe that’s a good beginning for these “Notes from the Lighthouse.”
[This post appears on that site.]