I have always prided myself on being somewhat of a nomad. Here's a list of the homes I've lived in throughout the 33 years of my life:
-apartment in Santiago (2 years)
-trailer in Lincoln, Illinois (2 years)
-red/white house in Santiago (1 year)
-wooden house in Santiago (1 year)
-Pepe Villa house in Santiago (7 years)
-Grandpa's house in Correctionville, Iowa (6 months)
-missions trailer in Joplin, MO (6 months)
-rented house in Santiago (3 months)
-208 S. 16th Street, Norfolk, Nebraska (1 year)
-508 S. 4th Street, Norfolk, Nebraska (4 years)
-1302 N. Florida, Joplin, Missouri (1 year)
-Boatman 2nd, Ozark Campus, Joplin, Missouri (off and on for 3 years)
-Trailer #6, Ozark Campus, Joplin, Missouri (2 years)
-apartment behind Saez house, Santiago, Chile (2 months)
-1101 Lone Star Drive, New Braunfels, Texas (4 months)
-apartment on Fir Road, Carthage, Missouri (7 months)
-house in Trillium Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky (6 months)
-Via Michelloti, 1, Perugia (15 months)
-Via del Conero 2/C, Ancona (7 years)
-Hop-Along-Hollow, Joplin (6 months)
OK - so that's 20 places. The longest I've ever been 'planted' is in the apartment we now call home. Seven years here. A couple of times over the last couple of years we've talked about moving to a new apartment with a yard but always come back to being grateful for what we have and made the best of it. For the record, it is a BEAUTIFUL place and we love it.
Yesterday afternoon the doorbell rang and my landlord walked in, his face long, sad. First words out of his mouth, "I have to tell you something you won't like."
Gulp.
"I need my apartment back."
Gulp.
"My son and his family need it so I need you to move out as soon as you can."
Gulp. "Do I have an option or is this for sure?"
"It's for sure. Take the time you need to find a place, but you need to move out."
As the door closed behind him I started looking around at this place that currently holds the record for the place I've lived the longest and I was filled with a certain sadness. Two of my kids were basically born in this home. We 'raised' this apartment from a bare-walled canvas with wires hanging from the ceiling to a colorful, warm, beautiful home.
'Tis the life of a missionary I guess - the nomadic one. And with that, 2008 becomes the year we move again.
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The Sunken Church
This blog follows the life, ministry and adventures of the Casey family. We were missionaries in Ancona, Italy from 2000 until 2011. We are now adventuring in the US of A, experimenting with running a business, growing a garden, raising a family and challenging the Church to break outside the box and adopt new forms to reach a new generation with the truth of the Gospel.
di Ancona
About Me
- Jason Casey
- Born in Santiago, Chile I have grown up on the move - lived in some 15 different homes. I am a 'word' person - enjoying almost anything to do with books and literature. I love exploring God's great world and helping people find their place in it.
sunken
The story goes like this:
There once was a church down by the port in Ancona, Italy. With the passing of time, shaken by earthquakes and beaten by the winds, the foundations of the church crumbled and the church toppled into the sea. A friend of ours shared with us that she remembers, as a little girl, playing along the pier and seeing the remains of the church under the water. She remembers seeing the cross from the top of the church under the surface. She told us that some say that if the wind was strong enough and the waves choppy enough, you could even hear the bells...
The story leads to this question:
If we were to raise her out of the water, if we were to restore her completely to what she was originally intended to be...what would she look like? If we were to remove her from all the traditions that humankind has surrounded her with and drowned her in...who would she be?
5 comments:
Shoot!
Well, let's hope your next place is better than this one.
Jonah
Interesting blog, Jase. Do you want me to correct your misremembering?
Dad
Please do!
dude... i feel your pain... your 7 years mirror our 7 years in Yunghe before we moved to Xindian where we live now... 2 kids born while there... the others knowing it as home... lived there longer than almost anywhere else in my life.
May God bless you as you go through this transition... make sure you don't minimize the importance of that place to your wife and kids...
Good news! God has already gone before you and know where you will live and is not confused or fazed by your landlord's need for his apartment back.
Blessings,
SQJ
no way!! i can't believe it! we just signed a contract on an apartment and are now particularly thankful for the clause about how much notice he has to give us if he wants us out. is there anything like that in yours?
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