We are continuing our fly-over look at the unifying story of the Bible, in a series we are calling “You Are Here.” Join us in Genesis 12, location... Abraham.

If we trace our ancestors back far enough, each of us will likely find a pivotal moment when a decision was made to uproot the family, leave behind the familiar, and venture into a land they knew little about. Their decision had consequences for us. My great-great-grandfather made the voyage, in the 1800s, from Scotland to eastern Canada, then down into upstate New York, and eventually across into Oregon. My grandfather distributed tires in Portland. He also joined with four buddies to form an evangelistic team, occasionally venturing up the Alaskan Yukon River. My dad left home, went to grad school at Berkeley, then took a job starting Cal State Palos Verdes, which became Cal State University Dominguez Hills. If not for the cross-ocean voyage of my great-great grandfather, I would not have grown up surfing the beaches and point breaks of the South Bay. I might be a sheep-farmer in the Scottish Highlands.

Abraham made a journey that literally impacted the entire world. He got a mission from God, and Jesus told us it is our mission too.