As most of you know by now, Jo Ann and I have essentially moved to the Denver, Colorado area. I say “essentially” because I’m currently in Denver and Jo Ann is back in Hagerstown- we’re one house in two locations! We’re moving into a house in Denver while moving out of a house in Maryland. We should be completely moved into our house in Denver the end of this month. Until then, again, we’re one house, two locations; which means we are always aware of both places, because at this moment, this is “who” we are and “what” we’re about.
Actually, we’re one house, five locations: The above referenced situation plus our son Casey and his wife, Julianna in Seattle, WA, our son Corey and his wife Lauren in Hagerstown, MD, and our daughter Cayla, in Storrs, CT. We all have a stake in one another’s lives- we’re Broadwater’s, we’re family, and it doesn’t matter where each of us may be at any given time, we are, and will always be, one house, in multiple locations. As you can imagine, we could multiply this to extended family, etc.
I love how many cultures and societies historically refer to a particular family and lineage as, “the House of….” You see, as long as there was, and is, the continuance of the family name from one generation to the next, the “House of…” was, and is perpetuated. Living in the same actual house and/or location as the the founding or preceding generation is not what constitutes a “House/Family”- it is the validity of the name, the reproduction and perpetuation of the genes, traits, and characteristics, and the bond that simply exists because of the shared same name that makes a “house” a “House.” My personal family and my extended family of Broadwaters lives in many different houses, towns, cities, and states, but we are still very much one house!
This is also especially true of the Church family; whether it’s the folks of Grace Community Church or the larger entire Family of God; in the end, we are all, still, One House! And perhaps the greatest blessing in all of this,is that family is still Family, and a house is still a House, no matter how many different and unique locations there may be!
TERRY BROADWATER 
Conventional thinking might be that when you are in (or spread amongst) multiple houses, or multiple locations, that you lose perspective, and may become less effective, too.
But seems to me this can (should be) good. As more people network into our lives, and we truly respond by being “lifetime learners” of cultures, habits, frailties, and strengths of people a few things should happen:
– Our wisdom should increase
– Our influence over others should grow
– Our attachment to houses and cities and denominations diminishes
– Our relationship to Christ becomes based more upon faith and less upon the substance of things
Jesus called his disciples to leave their homes and expand their world view. They were amazed at their growing influence, and watched how Christ invested his own influence. Christ had one, then two, then twenty, then so many “homes”, that i the end, it was as if he had none, or, I would rather say, “networked” them all, all the time. Paul’s letters to believers around his world show an intimacy which showed he too had many homes.
I was a military brat. When people ask me where I am from, I rarely give the same answer twice. Today, by God’s grace, I am still am a traveler to places around the world, peoples of various cultures, books about the legacies of others, (good and bad), and a student of my own failures and inadequacies. I don’t love this world, but am fascinated by it and its possibilities.
Terry, you will never have “one home”, which is good. Otherwise, you would be settling into a laboratory, and you would not be taking over the world.
-DS