{"id":50231,"date":"2019-03-05T15:03:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T21:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/?p=50231"},"modified":"2019-03-05T15:03:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T21:03:49","slug":"we-moved-our-family-and-changed-their-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/faith\/essentials-faith\/growing-in-your-faith\/we-moved-our-family-and-changed-their-world\/","title":{"rendered":"We Moved Our Family and Changed Their World"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

David and Meg Robbins felt comfortable, living on a cul-de-sac in the Atlanta suburbs. The area was zoned for the best schools.\u00a0The houses were nice, and they enjoyed their neighbors.\u00a0Several neighbors even went to their church.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then one day we looked up and realized that it felt so safe and easy in that neighborhood,” reflects the FamilyLife CEO. \u00a0“Every person who we meant to encounter\u2014and even accidentally encountered\u2014was just like us.”<\/p>\n

After going away for a weekend retreat in 2011 to focus on their family\u2019s values, David and Meg returned home with an anxious trembling. They had some difficult decisions to make. God used that weekend to remind them of His larger, universal narrative. That narrative, they realized, is a lot bigger than a comfortable home in the best school district.<\/p>\n

It was time for their family to admit that the world is a more diverse place than what they were experiencing. They knew, too, that their children would be growing up in an ever-diversifying world. It was their responsibility to follow God\u2019s call to recognize the unique glimpses of who He is in all the people He created. And to teach their kids to do the same, to value the differences in others.<\/p>\n

\u201cOneness, after all, is God\u2019s idea,\u201d David and Meg agreed.<\/p>\n

David and Meg couldn\u2019t deny God\u2019s heart for reaching every tongue, tribe, and nation. They were involved in effective ministry in Atlanta. But they knew God was asking them for something more.<\/p>\n

The big move<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With their three young children in tow, they moved their family to New York City. In the busyness of making a home in the middle of America\u2019s melting pot, they had no choice but to completely immerse themselves in daily differences.<\/p>\n

Their high-rise apartment neighbors were from numerous ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds. Their children\u2019s classmates were a beautiful mixture of colors and harmonizing accents, sitting side by side at the lunch table. The sidewalk trek to the supermarket was now devoid of the status of certain cars, large homes, and right-branded work wear.<\/p>\n

There was no majority here. No in crowd. There were just God\u2019s people. Needing to be loved and known in an authentic way.<\/p>\n

Which was refreshing. And challenging.\u00a0 \u201cSuddenly the comfort of raising kids in a culture that supports your values wasn\u2019t part of our story,\u201d David says. \u201cBig churches, Awana programs, vacation Bible school, or Christian teachers in the public school weren\u2019t there to shape our kids\u2019 lives. But we were there to continue modeling to our children a rooted faith that moves toward and recognizes the value in people who are different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life on life <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Robbins spent their days building relationships in regular places. Meg joined the PTA at the local elementary. They spent afternoons at the park. Weekend dinners were shared squished on neighbors\u2019 couches. \u00a0They frequented local restaurants and befriended anyone who God put in their path.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built solid relationships,\u201d David remembers. \u201cBut in all those years in all those friendships, only two people ever came to church with us. Our Atlanta selves would\u2019ve been discouraged about that. Our New York City selves recognized that what happened on playgrounds and in living rooms was something we couldn\u2019t foster in a 90-minute Sunday service.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pathway to every conversation about God always started with an honest concern or question about the daily challenges in someone\u2019s family. “We had another fight last night,” a wife would admit to Meg in the school hallways. “I don\u2019t know how to find time with my kids,” a dad would confess to David from the soccer sidelines. “Do you guys still go on dates?” a young couple wanted to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that our taking up residence with the people who God called us to love, just like Jesus did in John 1, was the biggest way to reach them. And then God changed our residence again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to the suburbs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

David became the president and CEO of FamilyLife in December 2017<\/a>, moving his family back to the South they had been so familiar with. It wasn\u2019t as easy as one might expect.<\/p>\n

Readjusting to a house in the suburbs, surrounded by people who mostly think and look like you, was another culture shock for their family. They had gotten used to, and enjoyed, the nightly questions from their children about a New York City classmate\u2019s family background. They missed the German bakery around the corner and overhearing multiple languages. And they missed the walkable city they\u2019d grown to love.<\/p>\n

But David and Meg knew now how to continue growing an awareness of and love for people who are different than them. Even in the Christian cultural comfort of the Bible belt, the Robbins don\u2019t want to settle for a life of sameness in their relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t,\u201d David says. \u201cWe know now how much we\u2019d miss. How much we wouldn\u2019t learn. How much we wouldn\u2019t grow if we\u2019re only listening to, living among, and being loved by people who look just like us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/span>

Receive more encouraging content like this delivered to your inbox!<\/i><\/span> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

The value of differences<\/strong><\/h2>\n

David and Meg feel that it’s important for their kids during their formative years to wrestle with the questions that differences bring up. \u201cWe\u2019d much rather our daughter be curious about Judaism as a third grader, asking the questions around our dinner table, than waiting till she inevitably faces that curiosity as a young adult.<\/p>\n

“And the value isn\u2019t just for our children. Or for those we love. The value is for us as men and women, husband and wives, moms and dads, as believers in Christ. When we are intentional about moving toward those who are different than us, for whatever reason, we see more clearly the beauty of God reflected in each of the faces He uniquely created.<\/p>\n

Sticking with it<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In an effort to avoid falling into the rhythm of cultural comfort, David occasionally repeats an introspective assessment. He makes a list of the ten closest people to him: his confidantes, buddies, and mentors.<\/p>\n

Next to each name on the list, he records that person\u2019s ethnic background. Back through the list again, he adds each socioeconomic status, then age, family background, and education background.<\/p>\n

When he finishes his list, if everyone in his top 10 is just like him, David knows he\u2019s missing it. He\u2019s not only missing out on God\u2019s call to love and care for everyone He created. but he believes he\u2019s also missing out on what these people can teach him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure we can be on overseas mission trips and helping at the downtown charity,” he says. “All of that is absolutely good and right. But if at the end of the day we have not opened ourselves up to anyone who is different … if we don\u2019t have someone inside our comfort circle who isn\u2019t the exact same to speak into us, to shape us, and give personal access the way we would a trusted friend … then we cannot learn all that God has to teach us through the lives and voices of His people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small choices<\/h2>\n

This spring you\u2019ll find David and his family out on the local soccer fields. A place you can find many families, so that doesn\u2019t seem much different. But instead of going with only the convenient, free school league, David and Meg registered their kids for the community recreational league, too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a small choice, they know. But it\u2019s a way to keep being intentional. To spend hours in their week with others who don\u2019t go to their school, who don’t live in their neighborhood. Who don\u2019t share their church pew.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a way to open themselves and their children up to the people God can put in their paths. It\u2019s a chance to trust where God has them and continue embracing differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working at it,\u201d he says. \u201cBesides, if our children are going to learn it, they\u2019re going to learn it from us. I want to model for my children a trust with various kinds of people. A respect for all people. And authentic friendships with someone who doesn\u2019t look exactly like me. I\u2019m thankful I can make the choices to model that no matter where God plants our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Copyright \u00a92019 by FamilyLife.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day David and his wife, Meg, realized they wanted their family to see that the world is a more diverse place than what they were experiencing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14950,"featured_media":50333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"FamilyLife CEO David Robbins Discusses the Value of Differences %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"One day David and his wife, Meg, realized they wanted their family to see that the world is a more diverse place than what they were experiencing.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2822],"tags":[],"equip-category":[],"cwp_profile":[3259],"class_list":["post-50231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growing-in-your-faith","cwp_profile-tracy-lane"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2019\/02\/they-realized-everyone-they-knew-was-just-like-them-1040x326-1.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2019\/02\/they-realized-everyone-they-knew-was-just-like-them-1040x326-1.jpg",1024,321,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"tlane@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/tlanefamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"One day David and his wife, Meg, realized they wanted their family to see that the world is a more diverse place than what they were experiencing.","meta_box":{"_cloudsearch_visibility":"","profile_obj_manual_select":false,"profile_obj":false,"separator":false,"enable_link":false,"login_restricted":"","content_type":"","disclaimer_banner":"","currency":false,"pricing_subtext":false,"element_type":false,"date_field":false,"date_format":false,"theme_header_position":"","post_header_is_sticky":"","is_header_overlay":"","series":false,"ignore_sticky":false,"conditional_blocks_category":false,"cta_selection":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14950"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50231"},{"taxonomy":"equip-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/equip-category?post=50231"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=50231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}