A Place to Call Home

My generation is the most connected of any generation before it yet is quite possibly also the loneliest. Many of us have been the first in our families to move out of the state and settle elsewhere due to the mobility we’ve been afforded, yet few of us have planted deep roots anywhere for any substantial amount of time. And we have more self-help books and wellness programs than ever before, yet most of us feel lost and are overweight.

Over the last several years I’ve been able to identify with most of these things. I can “Skype” with friends in Africa but most of my closest friends from even five years ago are now scattered across the globe in places like Zambia, the Middle East, East Asia, and the four corners of America. Technology is no replacement for face-to-face relationships.

Places that were once filled with almost all the people we loved have slowly been deserted. It’s funny, almost scary, how places that seem like “home” for a season can quickly lose that status.

And my wife and I were the first in our immediate families to move away for a time, yet post-college, we’ve never spent more than a couple years in a single place.

As relationships, people, and places come and go, it’s easy to feel like a homeless wanderer. 

But tonight, I’m grateful for having found a home in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In my moments of loneliness and seclusion, it’s the Gospel that provides intimacy. In the moments where I’m most keenly aware of the temporary and fleeting nature of life, it’s the Gospel that supplies permanence. In moments of self-doubt and questioning, it’s the Gospel that offers identity. And when I feel weak, insignificant, and broken, it’s the Gospel that gives strength, loving affirmation, and healing.

God-willing, it will be many, many years before all of the friends and family that have passed through our lives at one time or another will be reunited at a great Banquet, and that too is only possible through the Gospel.

But even now, I do have a home, and His name is Jesus.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened

And I will give you rest

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me

For I am gentle and humble in heart

And you will find rest for your souls

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light

-CK