I could say something cliché about how “home is where your head rests” or “home is where the heart is” but quite honestly I haven’t found either of those to be true.
Starting to write this blog I wondered what the best definition for home was.
So where did I look? Duh the BIBLE.
definition of HOME /hom/
a. dwelling place of some worthy person, where your peace is deserved and you can be housed until you leave (Mt. 10:11-15)
b. a place near the altar of the Lord Almighty; where the blessed dwell; the courts of God, distinguished from the tents of the wicked (Ps. 84)
c. a place to be left, a group of people (brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children) to be multiplied immensely after leaving (Mk. 10:29)
d. man or woman who loves the Father and obeys his teaching; occupied by the Counselor, the Holy Spirit sent in the Father’s name, bringing peace unlike the trouble of the world (Jn. 14:23-27)
I suppose I’ve found home to be all of these, because when you haven’t had something for 3 months you start looking for something to fill the gap.
Mabe and Fabi’s house was my home in Ecuador. Our wooden bunkhouse was my home in Peru. Both of these houses carried a certain peace that only comes from a dwelling place of someone who worships the Lord. Mabe, Fabi, Yola, Julio, Rolando, and Zuleme love the Lord. They carry the spirit of God, and this spirit dwells in their homes.
A deep breath and fixed eyes are my home when I am tripped up by the enemy. When people are hard, weather is hard, bug bites are hard, or choosing joy is hard, I sit in a place near the altar of the Lord Almighty. I step away from the tents of the wicked, from the grasp of the enemy, and I step into my home. I have a clear mind there, I have a peace there, I have a home there.
3216 Ridgecrest Dr is my home. This is the place that I left. Despite the difficulty, these are the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and children who I left. Knowing I will return but not being present in the moment is confusing. But in their physical separation, my brothers and sisters have been multiplied. I walked away from a family of 6 for a moment to enter into a family of 42.
I am a home. My brothers and sisters are homes, wherever their feet are. The Holy Spirit occupies their daily lives, bringing peace in stark contrast to the trouble of the world. Through love for the Father and obeying his teaching, we become walls to be entered by a living God. A God who is not dead, but alive and seeking to live in a home like me.
Home is ever-changing.
Home is so constant.
Home is made for leaving.
Home doesn’t really ever leave.
So, what is home, you ask?
To that I say, I don’t know.
But I do know that I have a home.
I know that I can dwell in my home when I need it, that I can find peace in my home when I need it, that I can rest in my home when I need it.
The only connection that I can draw between all of these definitions of home is that the Lord is in it.
So praise God that he knows where my home is even when I don’t.
PS!! I am currently in my new home in GUATEMALA!!
