So why "uprooted"?
Since the time God changed me and gave me a new heart, I've often felt like a sapling that was in the process of being transplanted. At first there were many stormy winds - the concussion in college, followed by severe depression, separation from our previous church, extended illness. The trials threatened to break my tender branches, but God was overseeing them and using them to loosen my roots from the world's bedrock. Then there were the deep cuttings of the spade - mortification of sin, breaking off from self-invented misconceptions. Sometimes dry and thirsty, other times battered and exhausted, my soul could only trust in the all-powerful, all-knowing hand of the Master Gardener. At the time, I didn't know where Lord was going to transplant me; each vocation only seemed to be a resting place, but not a final destination.
Then I heard a sermon on Psalm 1 - "he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." The word is actually "transplanted." And Dr. Downing used the word I associated with my period of life - UPROOTED. What a comfort then that this is not supposed to be a unique experience, but one for all Christians! At this period of my life, my roots have been set on the dry ground in Iraq - not the rivers of water upon first glance, but as the Lord continues to nourish me and grow me, this desert place may very well become the source of much fruit.
After being at home for three months, returning to Iraq for the next ten months, then returning home, only to move again to Michigan, I can say that being uprooted is a difficult process. It has reminded me though, that I am a pilgrim and a sojourner in this land. And it excites me to find out how and where else I'll be uprooted to until my final transplantation into eternity.
