One of the hardest things about following Jesus is that sometimes the path of obedience leads directly into suffering. We often assume that if God is calling us somewhere, He will make the path easier. We pray for open doors, clear direction, provision, protection, and success. And certainly, God does provide all of those things at times.

There are few things more difficult than knowing God is calling you somewhere that the people who love you most don't understand. Sometimes the hardest people you will have to disappoint are the people who love you the most. Acts 21 gives us a beautiful picture of this tension. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. The people around him know that suffering is waiting for him there. They love Paul. They don't want to see him hurt. So they plead with him not to go.

There’s something beautifully ordinary happening in Acts 21. Paul is traveling. Philip is serving. Agabus is prophesying. Philip’s daughters are ministering. The gospel is advancing through an entire network of ordinary servants.

These are the Acts of the Holy Spirit. God is behind all of it, just doing His thing. But in verses 10–12, we see some tension.

At the end of Acts 20, the Apostle Paul knows something that makes this conversation especially powerful. This is goodbye.

Paul has called the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet with him. He has loved these men. He has taught them. He has prayed for them. He has invested in them. He has poured himself out for them. And now he knows he will never see them again. At least, not this side of glory.

Church planters and ministry leaders are often drawn to what is next. The next church plant. The next city. The next ministry opportunity. The next person who has yet to hear the gospel.

That impulse is good. After all, the Great Commission compels us to go. We should feel a burden for places where Christ is not known and churches do not yet exist.

So it happened again recently, another Christian brother expressed that it was “unwise and unloving of me to move my family to New Bedford because it is both unsafe and undesirable.” This isn’t the first time I have heard this. In fact, I have had many “locals,” both inside and outside the church express to me the same sentiment. In these moments I find myself with a range of thoughts and possible responses.

Hi! Let me introduce myself. My name is Carrie, I’m 62 years old and while most of my friends and other people my age are preparing for retirement, I did the unthinkable. This past summer, and yes, in the middle of a pandemic, I sold most of my belongings, left family, kids, and precious grandkids to move across America to a city in the middle of New England: New Bedford, Massachusetts. Why? Because I am not my own.

My husband and I made the move from Texas to Massachusetts just over 2 years ago. We had a great life in Texas and many reasons to stay where we lived including family, friends, and a wonderful church. Most significantly, it’s where the Lord saved us and brought us into greater maturity of godliness and love for his people. In God’s providence, in 2018 we learned of a new effort within our church to plant a gospel proclaiming church in New Bedford, MA. We began to pray with a small circle of believers for New England in general and the church in New Bedford.