Currently I sit in the comfort of my home. This is where I spent 18 years growing up. I just left the one and only Shawnee, America…the last 6 years have been spent there in the only other place that has been my home. Yes…that makes up all 24 years of my life. Am I living in denial that I am leaving the comforts of the two physical locations that are home? YES!!! The theme when I moved to OBU as a freshman was “When was the last time you left home to come home?!” I think that will the theme for this next journey of my life on a completely different level. The physical WORLD will not be my home. The Lord is becoming home.
When I need a place to take refuge over the next year, I have in mind that it will likely be with the comfort of my Northface sleeping bag in my Eureeka Tent, with Gina sitting closeby…Gina is my large red backpack! The problem is none of those things are home. The Lord is my refuge, the Lord is my home! He is not currently home to the degree He is about to become. Never have I been in a place where I ca n’t pickup my cell phone and make a “comfort call” home. That could be to mom, dad, sister, or my best friend. The only call home that I will have in a moment’s notice is to the Lord Almighty.
When I feel alone…The Lord is Home.
When I get frustrated…The Lord is Home.
When I experience joy…The Lord is Home.
When I need someone to listen…The Lord is Home.
When I need to listen to someone talk…The Lord is Home.
I see the refiner’s fire in the near distance. Fire is never painless…but refinement will reveal how far away from home we have been. These places and the incredible people in my life make up my current perception of home, but home is about to be given a whole new meaning. It has been difficult to let this whole last portion of my life become a memory rather than a reality. My homes have been blessed and worthwhile, but now it is time to move on to a new perception of home. More than anything I am excited to embark on this new journey… The Lord has promised in Matthew 16:25-26 that “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Going through the fire is always worth the lessons learned through the process and abundant life on the other side… I am grateful to be HOME!!!
I find it fitting that the song that has been my cell phone ring and favorite song for exactly the last year has new meaning in my life. With a little editing these are the words to the Michael Buble song HOME. Take it for what it’s worth…
Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that
Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
I’ve got to go home
Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
‘Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me
Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home
And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know
Let me go home
I’ve had my run
I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home
Once again I am on a journey to LEAVE HOME TO COME HOME…
