Pioneers and Settlers

Change 7 – Pioneers and Settlers

Reading: Acts 6:1-7; 8:5-40; 21:8-10 (Philip’s Story)

4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. (Acts 8:4-5 NLT) Philip the deacon served the Jerusalem Church (Acts 6:1-7) but when persecution came, he went to Samaria where he preached the gospel, did miracles, and started a revival! Then the Spirit sent him on a road trip toward Gaza and he converted and baptized an African government official. Then he was teleported to Azotus and preached his way to Caesarea (Acts 8:5-40) where he settled. He and his daughters hosted Paul and his team on their way to Jerusalem half a lifetime later (Acts 21:8-10). Philip went from Settler to Pioneer and back to Settler! Good job, Philip! The folks from one ancestral branch of my family tree left Ohio in the 1860’s and made their way by wagon train to western Oregon to settle in the Willamette Valley. Folks from another branch of the tree traveled by train from Iowa to the West Coast in the 1880’s, then by wagon to settle in the remote hills of Eastern Oregon. Their kids who became my grandparents married and settled in Morrow county Oregon to raise sheep and wheat. They were pioneers and settlers!

Jean and I were pioneers for years, going new places and trying new things! We loved new beginnings. We moved from country to country and city to city and difficulties were just challenges to be overcome, not misery to be endured. Now we’re settlers, serving local churches in our area, mentoring leaders, and walking Jake the Dog in the desert east of town. Settlers like to see things develop and grow. They tend to enjoy the comforts of home a little more. We change, age changes us! Are you a pioneer or a settler? Are you a settler who longs to be a pioneer? Are you a pioneer who’s ready to be a settler? Settlers need pioneers to ride those wagon trains and pioneers need settlers to build a town and create a community. Be easy with yourself and the changes of age and circumstance and be easy with others who are moved by different passions and desires. It takes grace to allow ourselves to change and it takes grace to allow others to be who they are!

Prayer: Father, Thanks for pioneers and settlers. Thanks for the privilege of being a little of both! And thanks for my friends who are a rich mix of all the things we need to be to build your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven! Amen!