Home Away from Home

Last week, I talked about all the travelling we’ve been doing over the past couple months.  Cincinnati was a primary destination because that is where Traci and I grew up.  Anderson was a regular destination because our youngest daughter, Amanda, was going to school there.  Valparaiso was a final destination because it is, well, home.  It has been for 13 years now.  This week, it’s been nice to be home.

Now that Amanda has graduated from college (happy dance!!!), this week has been about bringing her back home to settle in for a little while.  Next week she continues the job search in the dance-business industry, but our house will be her home-base of operations for the job search and if she ends up with job(s) in the local area.  It is nice to have her home.

I’ve been using the word “home” quite a bit here and I noticed that I’ve been using the word quite a bit throughout the past couple months.  Maybe that’s because we were travelling so much and it felt like work just to be away from home.  It was great to be around family, friends, and to attend important events.  At the end of the day, though, there’s no place like home.

This week, I’ve been texting, emailing, Facebooking, and talking with a lot of people – catching up after being away from home.  I’ve been hearing about and praising God for the joyful events and praying to God through the struggles.  I’ve been reminded how much work it is for all of us to live, love, and raise families in this life.  I’ve been reminded that even home doesn’t really feel like home.  That’s because it is not.  The place does not make it home.

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1 NLT)

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:4-6 NLT)

For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (2 Corinthians 5:7-9 NIV)

Whether here or there, when we walk together with God we are home.