Vagabond and Settlers
I have a vagabond heart! I inherited the vagabond gene from my dad. Growing up, we lived in fifteen cities/towns, and I went to nine different schools before I left for college. We moved so much that it seems as if we left a town before we ever arrived. I don’t know from whom my dad received the nomad gene. Certainly not from his father, who farmed in southwest Missouri - until farming wasn’t profitable. He then relocated to Kansas City and worked for the Kansas City Star newspaper until his retirement. My dad was a vagabond, a nomad who had an itinerant longing in his heart that he passed on to me.
Since marrying my wonderful wife, we have experienced twenty-six moves and lived in thirteen cities in seven different states. Only one of those moves do we look back upon and wonder if it was the right thing to do. My wife did not grow up a vagabond, but she readily embraced our vagabond lifestyle and looked forward to “the next big thing,” our inside motto for “where to next.”
What does it mean to have a vagabond heart? It is more than frequently moving your place of residence. It means that you constantly have “itchy feet” - that there is always something new and exciting over the horizon. It is getting excited about setting up a new home, exploring new places, and meeting new people. You want to see new places and experience new things. As Paul Simon said, it means you’ve “got a short little span of attention” (You Can Call Me Al). It means that the words “road trip” excite you, and the word “homebody” depresses you. You are as comfortable in the front seat of your car as you are sitting on your couch at home.. You constantly want to get in your car (or an airplane) and go somewhere. It means that you are looking for what is over the next hill or around the next bend.
Longing for Security
I know I am different than most people. Not everyone is wired with a vagabond heart. In fact, I think there are two general types of people - vagabonds and settlers. I believe most people are settlers. They grow up in the same house for most of their life. They often do not leave their hometown. Even if they do go away to college or the military, they come back home to live. Or along the way, they discover some place to “put down roots” for the majority of their lives. They settle into the security that comes with longevity in one place. Driving down the same street, shopping at the same supermarket, and walking through the same park year after year produces contentment and familiarity. Feeling comfortable in the same house for twenty-five or thirty years brings a sense of peace. For the settlers, sameness brings security, which is a dangerous temptation.
Now, don’t get me wrong! Vagabonds face the same dangerous temptation: the desire for security. For the vagabond, security comes through change. Sameness brings boredom and insecurity. To us, the “next big thing” will bring something new and different. And as the old Arby’s slogan says, “different is good,” and good brings security.
Seeking a sense of security is not inherently bad. It brings stability and safety. But where we look for our security can be dangerous. We can easily place our security in the wrong place. As the old adage says, we can be climbing the ladder of life only to realize it is leaning against the wrong wall.
Whether our sense of security comes from constantly moving or staying in one place, it is a false security emanating from our inner desires and the physical world in which we live. The only true security comes through Jesus! But Christ has never called us to security in this world. He has only called us to security in himself!
Security in Jesus is Dangerous
Christ brings a security that is dangerous. Yes, I said “dangerous!” When we are secure in Jesus, he calls us into dangerous territory. He bids us to go where we feel uncomfortable, where we’ve never been before. Where we’ve never imagined. He calls us to change! His desire is to make us into someone totally different - a new creation that is becoming more and more like Him.
So, let me give you a synonym for security - trust. God is always calling us to trust him. Always! Security is not safety! Security is not stability! Security is not sameness! Security is trust! Trusting our Lord as he leads us into a dangerous life of change.
God called Abraham to trust him.
The LORD said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
— Genesis 12:1-4 (CSB)
Jesus called the apostles to trust him.
As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea-for they were fishermen. “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
— Matthew 4:18-22 (CSB)
It doesn’t matter if we have lived in the same house for sixty or seventy years, or if we’ve lived all over the world, God calls us to step into new territory - dangerous territory! He calls us to the security of trusting Him in new areas of growth—mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually. His challenge is for us to step out of our personal chosen type of security into the security of growing in Him, which is dangerous because it means we must change.
Security in Jesus is Scary
Each of us can become “stuck” in our own type of security - whether it is the security of sameness or the security of change. But God calls us to move beyond our personal security to the ultimate security of trusting Him in becoming like Jesus—no matter where that takes us! That is not only dangerous, it is scary. Why? Because God always calls us to go into unknown and new territory.
The disciples had no idea what they were getting into when Jesus said, “Follow me.” They simply trusted Him! It is the same with us. If we are truly serious about following Jesus, we really have no idea where he will lead us. All we know is that whatever or wherever it may be, we can trust him. Why? He is always right. He makes no mistakes. He desires our best. Plus, he will always be with us. The question becomes, “Will we stay stuck in our own security or will we follow him into the security of an “unknown known?”
We Are Called Into An Unknown Known
God calls us to an unknown known. We do not know what tomorrow brings; Even when we do know His will, We see a canvass painted in broad strokes. How can we walk confidently Into the unknown? How can we say “yes,” as Abraham did, To a place he will show us? He call us to the unknown In the midst of a holy known; Himself! He will never forsake. He will always guide. He will always empower. In the midst of all our unknowns, He is the known.