Till We Are Home

This past week, the notion of ‘home’ struck me anew after a period of travel. First, my wife went away to visit some of our friends in California. Then, in the middle of her trip, I took a work trip to New Jersey. Both of us returned on the same day, just a couple hours apart.

During those several days of travel, I eagerly looked forward to our reunion – with my wife, with our children, in our home. Until then, I just did not feel at ‘home’.

The title of my blog (Till We Are Home) and the subject of my first posting pull from this thought of ‘home’. After a long week in the hospital watching my wife endure a difficult trial to remove cancer, we subsequently arrived home with an overwhelming sense of relief resulting in the title and that first post. These last several days without my wife and then without my children while away from our house, reminded me of the same feeling – there is a distinct quality to what we call ‘home’. 

There are two aspects to ‘home’ that I think universally translates to us all: the place and the people. 

I venture to guess we all can relate to the place that we feel at home. It may be different from one to another, but we all likely call one place in our life ‘home’. Maybe there’s a childhood house or town that you feel at home in. Your mom, dad, grandparents and other family members and friends all live in or near there. For others, you hang your hat in the house you currently live in, calling it home. 

At home, you find comfort without effort. The drive into the neighborhood initiates an unspoken familiarity. Pulling into the driveway brings a reprieve from the outside world. Your pets greet you first (unless their cats), then come the others who share the same space. Here you find your pillow, your bed, the thermostat at your control, the spot on the couch, the worn-out path in the garden. It’s your space and your comforts. There’s no pretense here. There are no walls raised up other than the literal walls. You’re free to laugh, cry, sing, or just be still without judgment from others.

Here, you are home. In this place, in this space, wherever it is…you’re home.

But, I think, too, home is not only that physical space but also the people that inhabit that space with you. The two, the place and the people, are both important; yet, the second wins in order of priority. 

For me, my wife and children make home feel like ‘home’. (I have to admit, though, that since losing Izzy, ‘home’ hasn’t exactly felt the same…but that’s probably a story for another day.) With my wife gone last week with just the kids and me in the house, it just didn’t feel right. Even though I slept in the same bed, fixed coffee with the same French press, and locked all doors in the same routine, it all did not feel like home. I was home, but not ‘home’…my wife was not here.

Yet, when we all reunited again, in our home, I finally felt at ‘home’ again. It felt long and dreadful during those days, but the experience of being back together again felt good. 

So, then, how much more will heaven feel like ‘home’ for the Christian? Think about it. When this mortal life ends and when our Savior returns for us, we will be caught up together with Him in the heavens and go home together (1 Thess 4:16-17). There will be a place…there will be a people…and together in that place, we will be home. 

The place we will find ourselves forever in will be the new heavens and the new earth. The people we will find ourselves forever with will be our brothers and sisters in Christ with the Lord (Rev 21:1-3). We will finally and truly be home. 

And, I think that joy of ‘home’ today points me to the greater reality of this truth…that I am not truly home until I am home with the Lord. My travels this past week awaken me to the reality of the unrest I experience on this earth. When I travel for work or even vacation, the place I find myself in nowhere near feels as comfortable as my house in Texas. This whispers to me the truth that these earthly days I walk on this earth are not nearly as ‘home-y’ as what awaits me in glory. The comfort, the joy, the beauty I feel in the presence of my wife and children pales in comparison to that joyful and future union together with Christ and His bride. 

Now, hang with me a little bit on this next point. When my wife and I were apart for those few (but seemingly long) days this past week, even when I was with my children, I still felt sadness in missing my wife. Though I was with my children in our home, I still did not feel ‘home’…my wife was gone!

I love my children so very much. If you ask my son and two daughters if their daddy loves them, none of them would hesitate to answer ‘yes’. I love them dearly. I love spending time with them. I love watching them grow and live the life God makes for them

But, my wife is my number one (and if you ask my three children who is my number one, they all would say ‘Mama’.) She’s my other half. Days or any amount of time without her are terribly hard. I love my wife and love our time together. 

So, what about Christ? Think about it…if the new heavens and the new earth were complete with all the fantastic joys they will bring, and we were with all of our loved ones who put their faith in Christ plus all the others throughout the world and throughout time, but in the new life after this one we did not have Christ with us, would we be home?

No.

At home at the end of the age will truly be defined by being with Christ. Just like my bride is the one I’m most at home with, being with Christ will bring that final rest, eternal joy, and complete satisfaction. 

Home. Home with Christ, who is our home.

That will be the greatest joy and greatest sense of being home…being with Christ.

Even so, God ordains that we won’t be truly home until He gathers all the elect from all over the world, throughout all of time. All together at the end of the ages, with Him in the new heavens and the new earth. 

Today, for me, home means being with my wife, with my children, in our house in Texas. This sweet truth points me to the greater reality that truly being home means being with Christ, gathered with my brothers and sisters, in the new heavens and the new earth. Until then, let’s enjoy the reminders of this in whatever our sense of being ‘home’ means. Yet something far greater awaits the saints of the Lord, so may today’s joys of ‘home’ remind us of this greater reality…

Till we are home…