Sundays In My Subaru

I don’t really have a clever title for this one. Or, well, it’s not that exceptionally great of a clever title.

Anyways. I’m in an HEB parking lot right now. It’s a parking lot I’ve been in approximately a million times here and there. I’m here to get groceries, but all I can think about right now is how I’m about to leave the greater Houston metropolitan area. Again.

And I should be clear, it’s not just me that’s leaving. Pretty safe to say that my loving wife wouldn’t be thrilled if I left without her, our two kids, and the two dogs we’ve collected over the years.

We’re leaving the greater Houston metropolitan area. All *counts fingers and toes* six of us. For half of us, this is at least the second time that we’ve moved away.

For me, this is the third time. And to be completely honest, I don’t know if the third time is the charm or not. I don’t know if we’ll inevitably move back the way that I have on multiple occasions up to this point so far.

Here’s what I do know:

I’ve been feeling called away from Houston for a while. My wife has been feeling called away from Houston for a while.

We’ve been kicking around this idea of moving away for nearly two years now.

A lot of it has been shaped by the sort of life we want to have, some financial pinches here and there, our desire to have a slower and less hurried pace of life, to live somewhere that is surrounded by and immersed in accessible natural spaces, and to follow where God was calling us to go.

We didn’t really have a fully clear picture of what that really looked like. A little over three years ago, we actually tried to move to Mississippi, but that didn’t pan out. Then, when we started a discernment process on what was next, we wondered if it was going to be out on the West Coast.

And then we heard from our landlord that the homeowner of the house we were renting was interested in moving on from the house and intended to sell it. Which meant we’d have to find a new place once our lease wrapped up.

And then I started getting contacted about some intriguing job opportunities. A couple in Alabama and then one at a small, Christian university in East Texas that I was somewhat familiar with.

As it turned out, I fell in love with that small, Christian university in East Texas. They offered me a fascinating opportunity. And so, Longview is where we are headed next.

This is all a very brief, abbreviated version of what this process has looked like for us. It’s involved a lot of prayer and discernment and conversations with mentors and close friends. We spent a lot of time during a spiritual formation class, led by a couple of close friends of ours, praying through what all of this would look like.

Heck, I even made a playlist for discernment and spiritual formation that became, essentially, what I primarily listened to as we tried to figure things out.

If you want a bit of an understanding of what that playlist looks like without actually subscribing to YouTube Music (because I think I’m one of like 5 people on earth who actually prefers YouTube Music to Spotify), I have listened to a lot to the likes of Will Reagan & United Pursuit, Ellie Holcomb, Chris Renzema, Rend Collective, Celtic Worship, Steffany Gretzinger, Housefires, Benjamin William Hastings, Jervis Campbell and so many others.

Also certainly others, but a lot of those folks.

I should probably just share the playlist. It’s ever evolving and constantly being added to.

Back on topic. Of course, I absolutely must mention how our family and our small group and our community of friends and loved ones and mentors have really helped us figure all of this out. Or, rather, we figured things out to the extent that we’re actually able to figure all of this out.

Now we’re about one week out from actually moving. The house is mostly packed up. We’ve got a few things here and there left to do. The to do list seems unending. I’ve got a fair bit of catching up on freelancing that I need to do. My wife has been incredible in leading the charge in getting everything packed away.

It’s almost like she’s moved across the country with me on a couple occasions. And while we’re not quite moving across the country this time, moving roughly 4ish hours away to a new city still feels pretty noteworthy.