Transplanted in Truth By Bruce Thomas Hallmark | Artwork by Hillary Salvaggione

Transplanted in Truth By Bruce Thomas Hallmark

During my elementary school years, my brother and I helped my father and a friend of his transplant more than a dozen pine trees from a wooded property in Winchester, Kentucky, to our home in Lexington.

To move trees, we carefully dug around each one, leaving a two-foot-wide root ball, which we wrapped with burlap sacks purchased from a feed store. We used a Sno Wing sled to drag them to a rented utility trailer and load them for the ride home. The next day, we would dig holes in our yard and reverse the process to replant each one. Those were some long weekends for two young boys, but they instilled in me a love of trees.

I never anticipated that one day I, too, would be transplanted.

When I was 12 years old, my father’s job at IBM necessitated moving to Boulder, Colorado. After we settled, I felt lost living in a new house in a new city, attending a new school, and having to make new friends. I didn’t realize how firmly I had been planted until I was uprooted. I would have given anything to go back to my old Kentucky home.

While living in Lexington, my family had been long-time members of Immanuel Baptist Church, a congregation of more than 1,000 members. My mother sang in the choir during Sunday morning services, which were broadcast on local television.

There weren’t churches like that in Boulder, but my parents nonetheless set out to find a suitable replacement. We visited one or two churches before learning of a new church plant in east Boulder. Our first visit was nothing short of culture shock.

Instead of driving up to a large brick building with a parking lot, we arrived at a vacant, two-story house on a gravel road in a subdivision on the north side of Baseline Lake. Along with about 25 other people, we participated in Sunday school and worship service seated on folding metal chairs in a partially framed basement.

It was a radical departure from what we knew, but this small community of believers welcomed us with open arms. Being seen and known motivated me to look forward to Sundays in ways I never had before. That devoted and growing fellowship went on to build East Boulder Baptist Church about two miles east of the original meeting house, and we were members there for nearly 20 years. Both my older sister and younger brother held their weddings there.

When I reflect on my transplant experience and the years that followed, I feel blessed and rescued. I now see how the Holy Spirit’s prompting and covering fortified my parents’ resolve to find a new church home, where our family found belonging and became an integral part of building God’s kingdom.

My family’s cross-country move was not without risk. Initially, moving caused me to overvalue the perceived benefits of staying put, which ignited my resistance to starting a new life in Boulder. More than that, being uprooted exposed childhood trauma that impacted me spiritually, though I am certain it would have manifested in other ways had we remained in Lexington. The counseling I received saved my life. Ultimately, the move made me stronger and I eventually thrived in Colorado.

In nature, being firmly rooted is about the accumulated strength of being anchored in one place for a long time (think of the giant redwood trees in northern California). However, in a world dominated by rapid change and displaced people, rootedness is about purposefully investing in the imperfect soil of communities where we can begin to flourish and be known again.

Transplanting the pine trees of my youth and navigating the aftermath of my family’s move provided me a model for relocating. But I began that journey by mistaking the stability of living in one place in the Bible Belt for divine protection. That illusion was shattered and gradually replaced with the truth of something much better: Being deeply rooted in God’s provision is the only place I need to permanently reside.

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This article was shared with us in response to our prompts on what it means to be rooted. We want to thank Bruce for allowing us to share his story here. For more inspiration and encouragement, check out our newest magazine issue - ROOTED.