Greetings in the Lord. I pray that each of you is doing as well physically as you are spiritually.
As you know, since the first of the year I have been contemplating the possibility of moving to Meridian, Mississippi and making that my home base. I have been going to Meridian for a week or so each month, enjoying the writing environment there and doing whatever I can to encourage the small band of disciples that make up the 7th Street congregation in that town. I had planned to make my decision about moving there toward the end of July, but I have been able to gather all the information I need and there is no point in delaying this hard choice any longer.
I have decided that I will not be moving to Meridian to live there full-time. Lord willing, I will continue to go down there for a week or so each month until my lease runs out at the end of December, and I will continue to be interested in the Lord’s work there. But I will not be moving my regular place of work to Meridian, as I had hoped to do.
This was the most complicated decision I have ever had to make, by far. There were many, many important factors on both sides, and the pros and cons were so evenly balanced that no matter which alternative I chose, the scales would be only slightly tilted in that direction. If my final decision is to stay where I am here in Louisville, that does not mean there weren’t a multitude of positives on the side of moving to Meridian. Even the tiniest bit of weight added to either side would have changed the decision-making process.
Sometimes in life we have to make choices between outright good and evil. We may think those are hard choices, but they aren’t nearly as hard as the ones between good, better, and best in the Lord’s work. If we truly want to offer the Lord our highest and best, it can be a test of our character to determine what is, in fact, the best. When faced with a decision made up of many evenly-balanced factors, and we have to select which one of those is going to be the deciding factor, our character is never revealed any more clearly than in these situations. Also, it is extremely difficult for us to be completely honest with ourselves as to what our own reasons and motives are (Jeremiah 17:9).
So, with regard to Meridian, I finally had to pick which factor I was going to let decide the case. I hope you won’t ask me what it ended up being, for that is a very private matter between me and the Lord. Suffice it to say, I made the decision on the basis of my conscience: once I saw which factor would be the most important to a person like the one I most want to be, at that point I could not have gone the other way without violating my conscience.
I want to express my thanks to the 7th Street congregation in Meridian for their encouragement. Since the idea of this move first came up, they have been extremely supportive, making it clear that they would love for me live there but also letting me know that they would understand if I couldn’t do it. Without a doubt, the hardest part of this decision was knowing that I won’t be able to hold up the hands of these dear people in their struggle to keep going.
But regardless of the ever-changing details of my work, I deeply appreciate your making it possible. As I have said so often, no man ever had a more gracious group of helpers than I. Even when the work is hard, you make it easy!
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
WRITING GOALS
Pray with me that I will be given the ability to finish these works
- Walking in Christ — Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2025.
- Going Home — Book 7 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2028.
- Seeking God in the Psalms — a 52-lesson study — theme for each week, studies for Monday-Friday.
- Ecclesiastes — a full-scale commentary on the text of Ecclesiastes.
- Encountering Christ — what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ . . . and why we should believe it.
