And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” — John 14:3

Walking home from language school one day, I was picturing those ruby red shoes that Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz. She just had to click them three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.” I was wishing for a pair of those ruby red shoes right then, to take me back to a place where I know the language, the culture is not confusing, and our parents live close by. A place far away from a loudspeaker that loudly reminds me where we live five times a day, where my kids don’t always have to say good-bye, and where I don’t stand out so much because of the color of my skin. I miss the predictable, the stuff of home that makes me feel secure and comfortable.

We have a sign hanging up that reads “Home is Wherever I am with You.” So I have traded my ruby slippers in for flip flops and I walk this new road and try to remember that home is not a place, but the people I am with.

It seems we have been created with a strong desire for home. I am learning it has less and less to do with a location and seems to be more about looking to eternity. Piece by piece, what I having been holding on to as comfort or security is being taken away. Instead, God is replacing these things with a greater understanding of who He is and how He’s preparing my final home … with Him!

I still have days of longing for home and crave things like a walk through Target or a meal at Red Robin. But being away from home in order to share the hope of our eternal home with others makes it all worth it.

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