In one of his books, writer Scott Russell Sanders tells that whenever his father would come to new place, he would bend down, scoop up a pinch of dirt, sniff it, stir it around in his palm, squeeze it, and finally rake it across his tongue. When asked why he did this, he explained, "Just trying to figure out where I am."1

I have never used that particular method to locate myself, but being in ministry in a denomination where the bishop periodically sends pastors to new churches and communities, the dirt-tasting routine might have been useful. In fact, the system used by the United Methodist denomination to move its pastors is called "the itinerancy." That word comes from Latin root itiner, which means "journey," and journeyed my wife and I have over the course of my ministry. This church …