There's No Place Like Home!

“There’s no place like home.”  Dorothy

  Dorothy was right! It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mansion or a shack. There really is no place like home. Jane and I have just spent four weeks in what many call “paradise.” The beach and ocean were only a few miles away. The weather tropical. Yet, I found myself, particularly toward the end of our time, longing to come home. And it didn’t hurt that as we prepared to leave, Hurricane Dorian was looming as an uninvited guest.  

  It’s hard to believe that I am now in my 32^nd year as your Pastor in Burlington. In 1988 we loaded up our car, a moving truck and our then two very young children, left Detroit and moved to Burlington. The community was smaller then and had much more of a small-town feel.

  The next day as I went to open a bank account at what was then the Bank of Burlington, the woman at the front greeted me with, “Oh, you’re the minister that moved in last night.” There wasn’t a single traffic light and seemingly endless one-way streets. Getting lost both in town and on surrounding country roads was a fairly normal experience. The only fast-food restaurants were Hardees and McDonald’s.

  I grew up in Atlanta, worked in Chicago and ultimately moved to Burlington from Detroit. The smallest places I’d lived in were LaCrosse and Danville, IL (communities of 50,000). The small-town atmosphere was a big shock for me. I’d always qualified myself as a “big city” person.   

  Woody Allen once quipped, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Jane and I were originally on our own five-year plan. In fact, it was more foolish than that. As we were praying for a church and place of ministry, the one place that we told the Lord that we didn’t want to go was – Wisconsin. But in our great “wisdom,” we capitulated and determined that we would come and stay for “five years” and then look for greener pastures in another state and in another church.

  Are you like me? More times than I can remember, I’m so thankful for the prayers that my all-wise Heavenly Father didn’t answer. Because we fell in love. We fell in love with you as our church family! We fell in love with this community! And God gave us two of His greatest blessings – peace and contentment.

  Like many pastors, there were calls of inquiry from other ministries. One, back in the Detroit area, was very strong and tempting. But Jane and I never had peace about relocating. Or, the timing was just wrong. And so because we did not believe that we had marching orders, we stayed and stayed and stayed. Looking back now over three decades, we see so clearly that our Heavenly Father is so much wiser than we are. Doors and relationships have been built both within the church and outside of the church that rarely happens in short term pastorates. Unless the Lord has other plans for my life, this will be my last senior pastorate. Though I am approaching my 60^th birthday, I feel very much like Caleb, who as a very spry 85-year-old, spoke of seeing God’s faithfulness for the past 40 years and had mountains that by God’s grace he still wanted to take for God’s glory (Joshua 14). In many ways I feel as if our ministry is just beginning here and there are many mountains to take by His grace and for His glory.

  To be very honest, it would be very hard to leave this community. This is our home. You are our family! This is where our many friends are.

  Jane and I can well relate to the ministry of John and Mary Fawcett. John was born in 1740 and was orphaned by the time he was 12.  At the age of 16, he heard George Whitfield preach and became a Christian. When he was 25 (and had just wed his wife, Mary) he was asked to serve as the pastor of a small church in Wainsgate. The people of the village were all farmers and shepherds, very poor, most of whom were unable to read or write.  They were not able to pay much, and most of what John received as wages came in the form of wool, potatoes or other produce. When John and Mary began having children they found it difficult to make ends meet. After serving at Wainsgate for 7 years, John received a call from Carter’s Lane Baptist Church – a very prestigious parish that would be able to provide him a much larger salary.  John decided to accept the position.

  The Fawcett family packed up their household belongings and prepared to move. The day came and the congregation was in tears as John and Mary prepared to leave.  Mary is quoted as saying, “I can’t stand it, John! I know not how to go.”  John responded, “Lord help me Mary, nor can I stand it! We will unload the wagon!” And John is recorded to have said to the crowd gathered around them, “We’ve changed our minds! We are going to stay!” They unpacked the wagon and let the church in London know that they would not be accepting the position.

  John Fawcett then wrote this hymn to express his thoughts and those of his wife to the church and community they’d chosen to serve. After his sermon the following Sunday, John shared a hymn that he wrote that expressed their hearts. You may know it, Blest Be The Tie That Binds.

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Each other’s burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

  The Fawcetts continued their ministry at Wainsgate for 54 years with John passing from this life to glory on July 25th, 1817, at the age of 77.

  Jane and I do not know God’s plans for our future or our church. Yet, if the Father would let us finish our course here at Grace and in Burlington, we would consider ourselves very rich and very blessed! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.