Be Where They Are

Hello, my name is Pamela, and I'm a nomad.

I feel like this is a great way to introduce myself, not only to you, my internet audience but also to those I will meet in life. Let me explain:

In my 25 years of living, I've moved around, a lot. More than I would have liked to, but that was just the way that life has taken me. During my sophmore year at college, when I was meeting new people, one of my friends jokingly referred to me as a 'nomad.' We all laughed about it and it became this little phrase that I would use whenever someone asked me where I was from. I had no idea how true that description would be, of the life God has for me now, after university.



Fast forward a few years to May of this year, 2009. While at church one Sunday, I was approached by someone and he told me that God had given him a message to tell me, a while back. Mark said, "Whenever I would see you on campus, God just kept putting this phrase in my mind, but I never spoke it to you, until now. And God is just saying 'Be where they are.' I don't know what that means really, but I felt strongly that God wants you to hear that, 'Be where they are.' "

I had no idea what that meant, but was determined to pray it out and see what God was saying and where He was leading me with this little phrase. It took a while to figure it out, but then God showed it to me, in a very casual manner.

In June, I was working at a summercamp in Maryland, and chatting with another head counselor, just about life and getting to know one another (leadership training had just started) and when she asked where I was from, I told her, "I'm a nomad", my own little private joke, you know? Then, right as I was talking with Oju, God brought that phrase "Be where they are" back into my mind, and it all clicked together! I love thinking about the moment it happened because I pretty much rerouted the topic of conversation to let Oju know what God was telling me, because I was just figuring it out right at that moment.

Historically, a nomad was a person who moved around to meet his personal needs, or the needs of his tribe/family. When the food source ran out in one location, they moved on; when the water ran dry or became unclean, they moved. Their need to move wasn't based on a desire to be comfortable or to find better income, but it was based on the desire for the basics of life: food, shelter, and water. A nomad had a need, and he moved in order to meet that need.

Here's where that fits in with "Be Where They Are": God is calling me to be a nomad of sorts. I feel that throughout life, He will direct me to where His people are in need, and that is where I am supposed to go. I've known for a while that I was called to be a missionary, but always struggled with trying to discover to what country God was calling. I realize now that I could never focus on one country because I am not called to just one country. I am called to "Be Where They Are", to go where the need is. That could mean that I'm in one country for a year, or two weeks before moving onto somewhere else, where God is leading me to go.

It makes sense to me now why I felt the need to get rid of all of my belongings before moving to Korea to teach english (Which is where I am headed this month, hopefully. I'll expand on that more in the next post.) Everything that I own fits into four suitcases, and I mean everything. After living on my own for five years, I gathered a lot of stuff in my apartment, which was fully furnished. But now that is all gone, either sold or just given away because it's not something I need to tie me down. I didn't want to get a storage unit for my belongings to be there when I came back to the States, because honestly, I don't think I'm ever moving back to the United States. As long as God is directing me to a need, that's where I will be.

So this is where I am at now; a nomadic traveler, following after the will of God, seeking to meet the needs of His people. The journey is just beginning, and I couldn't be more excited!