I think it was sometime in 1956 that my family decided to leave the hustle and bustle of Jersey City, New Jersey and move to Kearny. I was four at the time and my little mind thought we were leaving the big city to live out in the country. Well, Kearny was really a large town in the midst of the New York Metropolitan area and I just did not know any better.

I committed to Christ in 1970 and was called to the ministry. After completing Bible institute I moved away, marrying Dorcas Yoder and since then we have lived in a number of locations.

My sister Pat, on the other hand, got married in the 1960's and stayed in Kearny. Pat and her husband George had rented a first-floor apartment where they raised two children. The children later left, but Pat and George remained at the apartment.

They stayed in Kearny until September 2009. After over four decades, they had the opportunity to team up with their daughter and move out to north central New Jersey.

Now, with the help of my niece, they have their own home, three bedrooms I believe, a basement, two floors and their own driveway. What a change from apartment life! The area they now live in is not far from a lake our family use to frequent, and just the thought of that brings back many pleasant childhood memories.

Pat and George saw something they felt was better for them, and I feel it is, and they seized the opportunity.

As I consider this, I have to think of how God offers every person on this planet a far better life than what they have now. No, it is not a life focused upon material things, but one immersed in the spiritual--and the spiritual is what really counts.

Thousands of years ago, a man called Abram heard God say to him (Genesis 12:1), "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

Abram obeyed and God kept His promises. It was not always easy for Abram (Abraham), but as he trusted God he was blessed with a far better spiritual life than what he had left behind.

God also calls us out--out from a sinful life (we are all born sinners) and has made the Way through Jesus Christ. If you fully trust and commit to Him, you too will be blessed and inherit Eternal Life.