I’ve been thinking a lot about what being homesick means. Last week, I had great insight on the matter when two of my campers got terribly homesick and wanted to leave camp after the first day. I felt bad for them because they couldn’t even make it through a meal without shedding a few tears. Fortunately, my co-leader and I were able to keep them busy during the day to try and take their minds off missing home. I’ll admit, it made me think of my home. It’s awesome how God provides exactly what you need and when you need it though.
While being on this trip so far I have experienced the Body of Christ in new and amazing ways. God has given me a home away from home. When camp was over the “Americans” (as we’re fondly called) and a few El Rancho Staff members all decided to go out to dinner and then up to a mountainside. It was about 15 minutes into our trip when it started raining though, so we decided to pass on the hike. Dave, one of the Camp Leads for the week invited us to his house instead. So, we picked up two huge boxes of take-away fish ‘n chips and headed to Dave’s house. When we got there, we were warmly greeted by Dave’s parents and told to make ourselves at home–literally. There home was beautiful. It sits up on a hill and the view from their family room is amazing–it overlooks the ocean. It was so nice to be at a home, just to chill and relax. It wasn’t long before his parents were making pizzas for us, giving us fruit–they even gave us these New Zealand iced coffee drinks in a bottle (similar to Starbucks), which won me over. I couldn’t believe how they just opened their home like that and invited us in. They literally opened their doors to us and said what’s mine is yours. I couldn’t help but sit back in my chair and think, “yeah, THIS is what the body of Christ is all about.” God provided me a home that night to relax in and a set of New Zealand parents that loved on us [God’s children] for a few hours. It was such a blessing.
Here is a picture of Dave’s house…
I know God is going to continue to provide me with “homes” along my journey, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
