Home, Really!

My last blog entry was about home. I was getting ready to travel and lamented how much I really enjoy being home. After I wrote it I began thinking about home. My Father impressed upon me that when I got home again I would not really be home.

You see, since I have become a follower of Jesus, the Christ, my Heavenly Father has a home for me in heaven. My Bible tells me that Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a home for me there. My Bible also reminds me that I am an alien here. That means this is not really my home. Instead, I am a pilgrim passing through a foreign land.

While I am here, though, I am my Father's ambassador, telling others about Jesus, who died on the cross for them. I am here on business --- my Father's business. My greatest challenge is to remember that this is only a temporary home for me.

In fact, the physical place I live on this earth is really just a motel suite where my Father allows me to stay (and covers the expenses for me) while I am about His business.

So, though I am back at that physical place I call home, I'm not really home yet. And, I find myself longing to be home, really home. I'm like the Apostle Paul at that point. I am certainly happy to enjoy the blessings of this world and I am blessed that God has chosen to use me as His witness. But, I am also desirous of leaving this place and finally arriving home.

Home

I'm getting ready for another road trip. In a couple of days I'll leave home to drive about two hundred miles to attend a pastor's conference and an annual meeting of our Baptist state association. As I've gotten older I'm not as big a fan of road trips as I used to be. Now I think more about the effort it takes to pack and the time I'm away from home. By the second day I'm always ready to return home.



Several times in recent years I've had the opportunity of considering a change in ministry. At least two of those opportunities would have involved a lot of road trips. When the last opportunity presented itself I was sure of one thing: I didn't want to pursue it.



There are some things that make some trips more enjoyable than others. One of those is when my wife can travel with me. On this occasion she'll be going with me for my trip. It makes my time away from home much more bearable. The other thing that makes some trips more enjoyable is when I have time to visit with family. This trip, on the way home, my wife and I will have time to visit with our parents, our children, and our grandchildren.



I'll enjoy my time at the pastor's conference and at the state annual meeting. I'm happy my wife will get to go with me. And I'm looking forward to spending time with family. Still, it will be good to get home again. At this point in my life I'm a little like Dorothy in the movie, "The Wizard of Oz." I want to join her in saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."