1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.

Dear God, that was a long way to go for food. I would imagine that part of the brothers’ thinking was that surely there had to be a more efficient way for them to find food. Going to Egypt seems like such a drastic thing to do.

It is funny how you use jobs, food, etc. to move us around. I think about my dad getting drafted and stationed in San Antonio at Ft. Sam Houston and that bringing our family from Kansas to Texas. I think of my grandfather being stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas, and that being how my dad ended up growing up in Kansas instead of Pennsylvania. I couldn’t find a job anywhere in 2005 except for one in Tyler, which I ended up not taking, and then Fredericksburg, which brought us here. It is a drastic decision to pick up and move, and we need some huge factor to motivate us to do it. Especially when we have roots.

I sometimes feel really bad when we have a complicated case come to the clinic and our best advice to them is to move to a large city because that is the only place where they can receive help. It is so much easier said than done.

Father, you have a plan for all of us, and you use whatever means you have to do guide us. Sometimes it is something that you allow to happen, and sometimes it is something you cause to happen. I don’t know which it is in any given scenario, but you do and I want you to know that, regardless of any suffering that might come my way, I trust you, I have faith in you, and I love you.