Home. What a complicated concept.
I’ve lived in several countries and have had nearly 30 homes during the whole
thing. In just a few months, Ashley and I will celebrate 4 years of marriage.
During those 4 years we’ve had 3 different homes. Bouncing from place to place might be resolved
if we could just narrow it down and understand this concept of home.
Some say that home is where the
heart is. Because of all our travels and all of our friends and loved ones, our
hearts have been stretched all over the world. Nevertheless, the Bible (or a
hymn) tells us that the world is not our home. We are just passing through.
So, yes, Heaven is home. And if I
feel like being spiritually technical about the whole thing Heaven is home. But
although not exactly elusive, neither is it precisely tangible. So let’s
address this issue of a more down-to-earth home.
While we were in the States we
got to spend time with family. We enjoyed cookouts with Ashley’s Dad, with her
brother we competed over who’d eat the spiciest Buffalo wings, and then with
her Mom we’d go for a walk to get some ice cream or just watch some TV together
before going to bed. Their hospitality is not taken lightly.
But there are other forms of
family too. Our home church always makes us feel right at home. Whenever we
return we honestly feel as if we’d never left. Their care and generosity mean
more to us then we could possibly express in this blog or in any other form of
words. (Words have such a way of expressing while limiting what we mean to
express!).
We even had the opportunity to
meet up with 5 of our GAP students and at least 4 others who are, in their own
special way, a part of our GAP family. It was a sweet reunion. There were
plenty of laughs and fond memories to celebrate between us all.
The Christian family as a whole
is just a perfect way to be welcomed home. Another inexpressible reality is the
very real family quality sensed with other believers. A pastor friend of ours
joined our support team admitting that it was just the right thing to do
because we were family!
And so all of that makes us feel
very much at home. Nevertheless, we were – to be brutally honest – relieved to
return to the DR. This too is home for us. It’s home in a very different way,
but it’s still home. We have the camaraderie of family among our colleagues.
All of the SCORE staff, whether the directors of a department or the driver of
a bus, are like family to us here.
Part of the Dominican charm is
certainly in the fact that it is our home. We have our pictures on our walls.
Our cats greet us at the door. We can help ourselves to what we have in our
fridge (right now mostly some of the candy we brought from the States). And,
most importantly, I have my books readily available on my shelves.
Work makes this home for us too.
Already this week I’ve been asked to translate a meeting between some of our
staff. The other night I translated a devotional, and tonight I have to give a
devotional (probably on Jonah). And Ashley has been hard at work every day at
the Lily House with new products, designs, etc. And this is only the beginning.
There is still so much more to come (that is said with both dread and
excitement!).
But if I really seek solace to
this nomadic experience, this experiential restlessness as to where home is, I
have to put my eyes back on Heaven. I
just can’t escape it. I keep going back there time after time. No, it’s not me
trying to be trite or cliché. It’s just the very real and very pleasant truth (as
comforting as every other expression of home I’ve made so far except more so).
Heaven is home.
The day we arrived home in the DR,
from having been home in the US, the founder of SCORE International, Ron
Bishop, went home to Heaven. He’d been hospitalized suddenly because of a blood
clot and things escalated. One feels like adding that things escalated
tragically, but that is only true if seen from our limited vantage point. I’m
sure from his perspective there is no greater peace or relief.
We do miss him and remember him
fondly. He was more than a founder, he was a leader to be admired and a friend
to be loved. He had the presence of a grandfather, both serious and sweet. But
soon we will all be Home together.
Oh, what a glorious day!
