Ain’t it good to be back home again

I have been traveling in Europe for the last two weeks and I must admit it feels good to be home again. Of course there is that nagging question that crosses my mind over and over again asking me where my home is. Being in the work I am in right now means traveling a lot and living in different places. Our family over the last 25 years has lived in three countries and at times we have moved to new places within those countries and back and forth to America in between. Some of you reading this might think that sounds like fun and others will read it and wonder how we could do such a thing. I am somewhere in between these thoughts.

I enjoy my work and think that life would be a little dreary being in just one place. At the same time I enjoy coming home to family and a place where I hang my clothes and put things away so that I know where they are the next day when I wake up. It is nice when at home to wake up and know exactly where you are instead of waking up and having to remind yourself you are in someone else’s house or some motel near an airport. At the same time I have to keep going back to that question I asked before and that is, “Where is my home”. While traveling in Europe I saw an advertisement reminding us of the old saying that home is where you hang your hat. We have all also heard that home is where you heart is. I am not convinced that either one of these statements are totally right.

Perhaps the real answer to this question for me is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1 where the Apostle Paul writes, “…we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” I have heard Christians speak of this world as not being our home and that we are just passing through and I agree that we often find ourselves alone here and not at home. Over the years I have begun to realize that I am at home when I am in fellowship with God. When I worship Him and enjoy his presence I feel at home no matter where I am here on earth. I am greatly encouraged by this because I know that if I am at home in the presence of God then I will always have a home. God is eternal and will always be around and the secret for me to feel at home is to always make sure that I am in His presence. The verse in 2 Corinthians promises me that not only can I be at home in his presence here on earth but when I die He promises a new body that He has prepared for me so that I can be in his presence and feel at home forever. Wow, that is a promise I like. One day there will be no more feeling homesick and even now in the present I can cure homesickness by making sure I am living and communing in God’s presence.