Where is home?
Finding a place to rest amid unrest.
“So, are you ready to go home?”
Every year, when it is time to leave our passport country to return to our adopted country overseas, someone always asks this question.
This, or else “Which place feels more like home to you?”
In either case, I am never quite sure how to answer. Is the person asking this just trying to make small talk, or do they really want me to take a deep dive, exploring with them all the intricate and interconnected lines of thought surrounding such a question?
Beyond that, I’m not even sure I have an answer to the question myself!
Do I enjoy being stateside?
Yes.
Do I miss my regular overseas life?
Yes.
Does meaning stateside feel like home? Y
es.
Does being in Asia feel like home?
Yes.
Think about it — there is nothing even remotely comparable to a Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden in the city where we live. On the other hand, I find myself complaining (quietly to myself) about the lack of spice in almost everything I eat when I’m in the States.
Do I miss being stateside when I’m overseas?
Yes.
Do I miss being overseas when I am stateside?
Yes.
Do I feel out of place in the States?
Yes.
Do I feel out of place when overseas?
Yes.
“Are you ready to go…or do you wish you could stay longer?”
Yes….and yes.
An old song sung by both Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith begins with “I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger, traveling through this world below…”
I’ve asked myself many times why I never quite feel at home. Johnny and Andy, along with Paul when he wrote to the Philippians, remind me that
…our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,… (3:20).
Could it be the “home” is neither in the States nor overseas?
Could it be that being comfortable, stable, and settled isn’t the goal for which we ought to be striving?
My passport calls me an American. Most of my days are spent outside of the U.S. But could it be that my most important citizenship and the place where I ought to reside every day, no matter where my GPS tells me I am located, is somewhere else?
Do I strive to live every day in God’s kingdom?
Or my own kingdom?
That is the question of the Christian life —
Whose kingdom comes first?
Too often, I fear my personal kingdom — my hopes, my comfort, my dreams, my ambitions — push me more and more in the direction of me.
Lord, keep wooing me toward You…help me continue learning to seek out your kingdom first.
We had to stop in a neighboring country to process our visa application on our recent trip back to our overseas home. Deep in the recesses of jet lag brought on by a 13-hour time difference and a two-year-old having difficulty sleeping, we walked along silently along a boardwalk as the sun was setting.
This country was not home, either. As we slowly rounded a corner, the sun came into view, sitting on the distant horizon of the sea. Sunbeams shot up through the clouds, visible in the dusk of the evening for as far as the eye could see.
This is not your home; I felt the gentle breath of the Spirit whispering to my heart.
The place you just left is not your home.
The place to which you are going is not your home.
I am your home.
Look at me.
Find your hope in me.
Find your rest in me.
Find your comfort in me.
Find your peace in me.
