(upbeat music) - So you're now living in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee, Pastor John. You live on a mountain and you have a porch that faces out towards the mountains. It sounds like a very serene and peaceful place. In Minneapolis, you've lived for the past 30 years in a very loud, urban setting in a house that's set next to the interstate.

I mean, what has this adjustment been like from downtown Minneapolis to the middle of nowhere, Tennessee? - Well, it's taking some adjustment. It's funny, the Lord prepared me for it in a way. I came home in Minneapolis a few weeks ago and Mel-El and I got out of the car on a Saturday and we stopped and we said, "Something's wrong." And what was wrong was that Interstate 94 and 35W, which intersect in front of our house, had been shut down to build the bridge over Chicago Avenue and there was not a single car on these 15 lanes of freeway and the whole neighborhood sounded starkly silent.

And I stood there thinking, "This is really weird. "I haven't heard this kind of silence for a long time." And that's the way it is here all the time. And so you sit on the front porch and there's nothing but this cow about a mile away, it seems like, I don't know what he's doing.

And then there's the birds that you can hear. There are no cars anywhere. And so it is, I think, an adjustment of soul by which you get accustomed to the sounds of nature as opposed to the sounds of man. And it remains yet to be seen to me what effect that's gonna have on my soul.

I have no desire, Tony, to spend the last 10 years of my life sitting on a front porch staring at God's beauty because the world has fallen and I think God's gonna give me about a billion years sitting on a front porch staring at his beauty. And his call on me now is to get retooled in a sweet place of peace and quiet, as I write, and fit me to throw my life back into the fray of where most people in the world live with all of their sorrows.

And so I'm thankful for this year, really, really thankful. And maybe I can tune back in with you months ahead and say, "Here's the effect that kind of silences head." I can give you one funny effect. I can hear my wife breathing now, which can be good. - Of course.

- It can be bad because I'm used to having just a nice hum of the freeway all night long, kind of white sound. And here, there is no white sound at all. So every little move in the bed and every breath, I'm alert to, so we'll see how that shakes out.

- Wonderful. We will check in with you in the future about the transition, Pastor John. Thank you. And thank you for listening to this podcast. You can keep up with Pastor John's latest resources, his sermons, blog posts, and other resources that he's producing at desiringgod.org. I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)