Welcome to Nomad Wife! For some of you this may be “welcome back” as I last published a post in December 2011. Since then my husband and I added one more move to our previous seven — back “home.” And it feels good!

I wonder what word Caleb used to describe how he felt when he finally “came home” to the Promised Land. You may remember Caleb got a taste of Canaan when Moses sent him to explore the land (Numbers 13). Sadly, he was one of the only two Israelite spies (the other was Joshua) who was willing to trust God to enter Canaan. The other ten spies agreed the land was good, but there was no hope for Israel to take it. The people living there were much too big, much too strong to defeat (Numbers 14).

Mutiny. Rebellion. Deaf to reason the Israelites lost their focus, they forgot the promise. In unbelief they sinned and God passed judgment: a 40-year banishment in the desert. Of those twenty years and older, only Caleb and Joshua survived and lived to enter Canaan.

What was it about Caleb? What caused him to make the decision to stand against the masses, the decision determining his destiny?

The Bible records little about Caleb, maybe some thirty verses. But in those short texts, he is recognized six times as a man with a different spirit. He followed the Lord God wholeheartedly. (Deuteronomy 1:36; Numbers 14:24; 32:12; Joshua 14:8, 9, 14)

God promised Caleb that He would bring him into Canaan to make his home. That he would receive an inheritance of land. Caleb does. And, an added bonus: So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. (Joshua 14)

Following wholeheartedly: fully, completely, totally, no division. With emotion. Sincere and passionate. With endurance. For the long haul. This character trait serves one well as decisions determine destiny.

O for a faith that will not shrink
Tho’ pressed by many a foe;
That will not tremble on the brink
Of poverty or woe.