“Stuck in Haran”

a sermon by

Gregory A. W. Green

First Presbyterian Church Charlotte, North Carolina

March 5, 2006

Genesis 11:26-12:5

Twelve years ago I moved from the sun of California to the snow of Washington State. Now keep in mind that I had never lived in the snow, much less driven in it. Which is my way of saying that I think I spent more time in the ditch that winter than I did on the road.

One day, shortly after I arrived, I was driving on Division St. in Spokane (which is a major thoroughfare), when the light ahead of me suddenly changed color. Trying not to panic I began to gently tap my brakes about a hundred yards before the intersection – only to find myself still sliding a hundred and twenty yards later, with cars zooming past me and honking on both sides.

Less than two hours later, I was on my way home, when all of a sudden, my pickup for no apparent reason at all, went into a spin and ended up in an embankment. I was stuck. In fact, I had to get towed out.

Coming from California, and having never driven in the snow, I simply didn’t have the skill – nor was my pickup properly equipped to maneuver in that terrain. I found myself in new territory and it quickly became abundantly clear that I had to learn a new way to drive.

Contrast that winter against last winter. About this time last year, we had just launched this worship service, and it had taken a great deal of energy to get it off the ground. I was tired and needed a break, so a friend of mine offered me their mountain cabin for a week. So on a Monday afternoon, I packed up everything I thought I would need in my new jeep and headed off for the mountains.

I was about half way there when it began to snow, and I still had about an hour to go, when all of a sudden I began to feel my tires start to slip and spin. I was going up a hill and the car began to slide sideways towards the ditch - but this time something was different, because as I began to slide towards the ditch, almost as if it was second nature, I turned slightly into the skid and reached down and shifted gears into four-wheel drive. Mid-skid I felt the tires grab hold and I began to climb back up the mountain.

It was one of the more exhilarating, masculine, testosterone-filled moments of my life! That week I was able to do things and go places I never had before, because now not only did I possess the skill needed to drive in such conditions, I also possessed the proper equipment. Sometimes you get stuck in the snow, and I certainly had before, but not this time. Because this time, I was driving a four wheel drive and was able to shift gears.

Sometimes we get stuck on the side of the road, we slam into embankments, and we crash in ways that we didn’t expect. Sometimes things happen that we don’t plan or envision. There are times where we had a better dream, a different blueprint, a clearer map, of where we would like to go in life, of where we would like to be, but suddenly because of the conditions around us – whether it be ice, or rain, or snow – we find ourselves suddenly planted in the ditch.

There are times in our lives where we simply get stuck in the snow. We all face slick surfaces that send us into tailspins and lead to us plowing headfirst into embankments. We all get stuck in ruts, and face sticky spots, and if we are going to get from where we have been – to where we would like to go – we have to learn to shift gears and drive in adverse conditions.

All of us face potholes in our lives, and in our work, and in our marriages, where we stand the risk of getting stuck and if we are going to get from one place to another, than we need to learn how to shift the gears.

Our text for tonight is a genealogy. It is a part of Scripture that most of us skip past because it seems to have no obvious significance for our lives – “so and so was the father of so and so, who married so and so, and so on.” But in the midst of that, we find the life of a little known man named Terah.

And what we learn about Terah, beyond the fact that he was the father of Abraham, is that he originally set out with his family from the land of Ur, heading for the land of Canaan – but he never quite made it there. He set his sights on Canaan, but something happened along the way that prevented him from making it. Instead, he ended up settling in the land of Haran – and we are told that there he lived – and there he died.

What it was about Haran that made him and his family stay there? Was it the water, the climate? Truth be told, we don’t know why he stayed there. We don’t know why he stopped along the way. We are never told why he settled in a land other than the one he set his sights upon. We simply know he never made it to Canaan.

The bottom line is: he set out to go one place, but instead ended up settling for another place. He set out for a specific destination, but for one reason or another, he ended up settling for something short of it.

And I can’t help but wonder - to what degree does the story of Terah reflect our own stories. How many of us have set out to go one place, and yet now looking upon our lives realize that we have settled, or are in the midst of settling, for something else? How many of us have settled for something short of Canaan?

Some of us set out upon our work as a calling, but have since settled for merely having a career. Some of us set out to have a marriage, but have settled for one reason or another for mere cohabitation or divorce. Others of us set out to be parents and have settled into being police.

Some of us have set out for a land of intimacy, yet have settled instead for a land of isolation. Many of us set out for a land of healing and wholeness but find it much easier to live in a land of sickness, depression, and blame shifting. How many of us have started journeying towards a land of plenty, but have instead settled for a land of scarcity.

Terah set out for Canaan, the land of promise, but instead he settled for Haran and he died there. And I can’t help but wonder if anyone here tonight is stuck in Haran.

I can’t help but wonder if there is anyone here tonight who started off thinking they were going one place, but instead have ended up somewhere else entirely. Maybe you are stuck there by your own choosing or maybe you are there because life has seemingly forced you there. But the point is - has what originally began as a transitionary place along the roadmap of your life, somehow become your destination and is your tent now pitched?

It is so easy to become distracted, stopped, and stuck, and before you know it you begin to realize that you have not made it to the place where you intended or God intended. And with that realization often comes grief, and guilt, and shame, and bitterness, and despair. It is easy to turn your tent into your residence and your highway into your place of habitation. Terah somehow got stopped in Haran, and he settled for Haran, and the text tells us he died in Haran.

But you do not have to die in Haran tonight. You may be stuck, but you can get back on the road and move on. You can get out of the rut. You can get out of the ditch and continue on your journey.

You don’t have to settle for being married without having a marriage. You don’t have to settle for church activity and programs without discipleship. You don’t have to settle for isolation when God would have you to live in community. You don’t have to settle for a job without a sense of calling. You don’t have to die in Haran tonight. God has called you to a greater destination. God has called you to Canaan.

Let me note that there is a big difference between being stopped and being stuck. We all get stopped from time to time in life, in fact we all get stuck from time to time, but just because we get stopped or stuck doesn’t mean we need to spend the rest of our lives there.

Being stopped is an inconvenience. And being stuck from time to time is a fact of life, but if we allow ourselves to remain stopped and then stuck for too long, then we run the risk of dying in a land other than the land of promise.

Whatever area you find yourself stuck in, whether it be the area of relationships, or finances, or health, or job, or family background; don’t be like Terah and end up dying in your Haran - especially when you have set out for Canaan.

For some of us, the reason we settle in Haran is because our parents stuck us there. But that doesn’t mean we have to call that place home. As harsh as this may sound, family background is not an excuse for staying in Haran. God says to Abram, “Leave and go to the land I will show you.” And here is something I believe in firmly, when God has called a family to a destination, even if your parents don’t get you there, God still can. Pick up where Mom and Dad left off and make it to the destination that God has in store for you. Don’t become comfortable in the land of their choosing instead of God’s.

Trust me when I say that I know this is easier said than done. As some of you know, I come from a challenging background. So I know that what I’m saying is hard, but it can be done.

Several years ago I was distraught over the fact that I couldn’t seem to help becoming more and more like certain members of my family. I loathed those parts of me and to my detriment and ultimate failure I tried to do everything I could to erase them.

I was stuck and my wheels were spinning. So much so that one day my mentor pulled me aside and offered me these words of wisdom that ultimately changed my approach to life. He said, “Gregg, you are going to be like your family. You have their DNA. There is nothing you can do about it. Therefore the goal is not to be unlike your parents, but instead to be your parents redeemed. Be the best part of your parents. Be the person that they, for one reason or another, never became.” You may feel like your parents have abandoned you in Haran, but you don’t have to stay there.

So how do you get unstuck? It’s never easy, but let me offer a few things that I have found helpful. First, talk to others. Lean on the counsel of those you trust. They will help you gain a perspective larger than your own and can help you understand the larger issues that you may be missing. Their advice and accountability will be invaluable. They can help to pull you out of the ditch.

Second, don’t let brokenness define you, instead let it refine you. You are made in the image of God and called to a Godly purpose and a Godly destination – let that define you.

Third, don’t focus upon what you have missed in life; instead focus upon what you have gained and what you have been given. If you focus only upon what you have missed, you will become bitter and hardened and if you stay in that embankment too long - you run the risk of isolating yourself and never getting out. But if you focus upon those things you have thus far gained, you will discover wisdom, and gratitude, and surprising joy.

Fourth, and I need to articulate this carefully, understand that in life – “shift happens.1” Shift happens. We live in an ever-changing world and if we are going to navigate the ever-changing terrain that we find ourselves in, we have to learn to shift gears. It is inevitable. Life will shift on you, and you have to learn how to change gears and move on.

Fifth, “if the voice of God is clear – even if the vision is not – get ready to go.2” The Lord told Abram to leave and go to the land that he would later be shown. Abram didn’t

1 Phrase borrowed from David Anderson 2 David Anderson, National Pastors Convention, 2006. have a vision of where he was going, he had only the voice of God, and that is all it takes to exercise faith.

We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith, we are told, comes through hearing the Word of God. There are places in life that God will not open up and show us until we become obedient and begin to act upon His word.

Maybe you are in a major transition in life, and you don’t have all the details ironed out, but you are hearing the voice of God calling you to move to a new land. If you are, then get ready to go. Get ready to move. When the voice is clear, even if the vision is not, start packing.

And finally, wherever you are at – look for the newness of God and embrace it. When we get depressed, feeling lonely, stopped and stuck – we begin to believe that we are too messed up and that what we are seeing displayed in our lives is all that God has in store for us. And it is a lie. God is still doing new things. God has a Canaan for you.

Before God parted the Red Sea, it had never been done before. It was new. Before God came down upon earth in the form of Jesus in order to get stuck upon a cross for our sins, it had never been done before. It was new.

If we are going to get out of our ruts, if we are going to get out our ditches, we have to realize that we serve not only the God of yesterday, but also the God of today, and tomorrow, and of eternity. He is a God of newness and he promises to give us new names and new hearts and to make us new creatures. He promises to make all things new. His mercies, we are told, are new every morning.

Don’t settle for Haran. Please don’t settle for Haran. God has a Canaan for you. Don’t become overly discouraged when you get stopped or stuck along the way. Instead learn how to drive in the terrain. When your wheels begin to slip, take the risk required to turn into the skid and shift gears. Keep the counsel of others, don’t let mishaps or the past define you, listen for the voice of God and when you hear that voice – even if the vision is not clear – get ready to go, because God is getting ready to do something new in your life. God is getting ready to lead you to Canaan.3

3 This sermon was inspired and the basic outline was borrowed and adapted from a sermon on racial reconciliation delivered on this text at the National Pastors Convention in 2006 by David Anderson.