Home! What does the word mean to you? I have to say that most of my life it was as the old song goes, “…wherever I hang my hat…” Seeing I have lived in many different places and very few of them could fit the definition of what most Americans think of when they hear that word.
Here is what I found on the internet when I typed in the word ‘home’”
- The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or a household.
- An institution for people needing professional care or supervision.
So, if I am going to go by these, I have had times where I would say I have fulfilled number one, kind of. I think the word permanently is a little extreme in my case. And as far as the second one goes, I have ‘lived’ in places that fit that definition, but they certainly were not considered home by any of the ‘residents’.
So why this big rig-a-ma-role about the word home. Well as most of you who have been reading my few and far between blogs this summer might know, we have been away from ‘home’ a whole bunch. And I got to thinking as I was driving the 14 or more hours it takes to get from Keene, Texas to Byron, Georgia how good it was going to feel to be home. And to tell you the truth, that struck me as funny. I mean, is the brick house, in the small Georgia town of Byron, really my home? And as I sat bleary eyed, driving almost endlessly, I could only answer yes and no.
Just a little over 2 ½ years ago I was merrily living in a double wide trailer on the out skirts of the booming metropolis of Grants Pass, Oregon. I was pretty sure that humble abode would be my home until I met my demise, or the Lord came in the clouds of glory. Yet because I met and fell in love with a schoolteacher in Georgia, I pulled up stakes from there and traveled across the entire country to now call the red brick house my home. And yes, I can honestly say it is my home, mainly because of another famous saying, “Home is where the heart is!” And wherever RuthAnn is, that is where my heart resides. So, yes, but why is there still a ‘no’ to deal with? I think I will need the Bible to answer that.
Listen to this beautiful verse, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1) Or how about this, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14) The truth is that we are all sojourners, travelers in a place that is not our home. Once my mind went in this direction, I wondered, “Does God seek us all to wander as nomads? Is our home a burden which keeps us from fully seeking God and serving him?” These were serious questions and I needed to answer them.
For sure Jesus himself did not have a home as defined earlier in this blog, this is what he said about his housing situation, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20) But how does that help answer my questions? For that it I needed to spend some of my driving time in prayer and here is where the Holy Spirit led me.
God does not begrudge us a home, unless that home or more so the house becomes where our heart is. It really just comes down to what the Apostle Paul said, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8 38-39) When love of my house or my need to have all it comforts take precedence over my love and service of God then I have lost the idea of what God desires for us here and in our homeland to come.
So, when I finally reached home after our extended travels, I was blessed to sleep in our bed and under our roof. But as I was falling asleep I knew that if tomorrow these things were taken from us, we would and could celebrate in the comfort of Jesus words, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6: 26-29) I slept well knowing both RuthAnn and I did believe home is where our heart is and that is anywhere with Jesus, trusting in him!
Blessings
John
7/18/19
