We are moving.

There. I said it.

For the last month we were selling our house. Then for the last few weeks, we were buying our house, but now…we are moving.

Big deal, huh? People move everyday, and I can recant a thousand reasons why it is a great thing:

• It’s tough to sell a house in this market.
• The kids are going to “love” the neighborhood.
• It’s a great place to raise a family.
• The house has a POOL!

But the one thing missing makes the whole list fall apart.

You see, every home that I’ve bought has always received the endorsement, however ludicrous, of my dad. At 18 when I had the wild idea to move out of town and purchase a nine-bedroom house to renovate, my dad said, “Great idea! I think it will build character.” Despite the fact that we actually heard gun shots on our walk-through, his stamp was all I needed to triumph.

Then when we moved back to town to be near my family, he walked through and said, “I think that’s the one.” It didn’t matter that he had reservations about the number of bedrooms–or that the wall had a cracks–or a million other things. He always gave sound judgment first, but he encouraged me in the answer that he ultimately knew I was going to make.

I’m convinced that he could encourage a squirrel to believe it was a duck, and that made his words so powerful to speak into so many people’s lives (see this post I wrote a few years ago). When you don’t hear that one voice that matters so much, it’s so much easier to hear the voices that don’t really matter.

So, we’re moving. Obviously, we are moving from one house to another, but I am also moving…

…to a place where my voice echoes those velvet words of encouragement.

…to a place where his voice is not forgotten but echoed into the next era.

…to carry on a rich legacy.