Coming Home

Coming home. Two of the best sounding words you can either say or hear. I have had the opportunity to say those words several times over the years. When I got home, it was a big hug and kiss from my wife and lots of jumping and tail-wagging from the dogs. Coming home is just something that feels good and right, whether I have been gone just a week or so or for several months. The separation may have been easier than in earlier years, with phone calls, emails and video calls, but there is nothing quite like the feeling of finally getting home.

There are other ways of leaving home other than on a plane or in a car. Sometimes it is just a matter of packing the bags and moving out on your own. You may remember that first job or going away to college or following some future spouse. Whichever one it was or whatever took you away, there was also that place you started from, the home base. It may have been weeks or months, or even years, but sooner or later you came back. It was a hearty welcome from the folks, friends you knew, old pets who never forgot you, and other sites and memories. Perhaps you got to introduce new family members, like a spouse and kids. Whatever the circumstances, there was just that special feeling when you walked in the door.

There are other things we sometimes leave behind. Sometimes we take off and leave our core beliefs behind. Maybe when we go off to find ourselves, a popular excuse once upon a time, we leave family and God behind. We seem to think that we have to do it our way and, in a sense of rebellion, we drop our beliefs on the doorstep as we leave. Over the years that follow, we may find other things to believe or nothing at all. When we do return home, we may politely follow the family to church on Sunday morning, but our heart isn’t really in it and the daydreams during the sermon are a handy way to pass the time until the service is over. Then it is off to our own life, your own world so we can pick up life the way you like it.

If we are either lucky or smart, we may find ourselves in a state of discontent one day. It feels the same as missing home, but also just a little different. So, we head back home to recharge the batteries, and find out they are quite fully charged. There is just something that keeps the batteries from being topped off. If it isn’t home, then what is it? We have our spouse and kids, if that has happened to us, and parents and friends, but there is something else missing. That is when it is time to look at what we may have dropped on the doorstep as we left long ago. Perhaps what we are missing is God whispering in our ear that we left Him behind and we need to get back to the roots of our beliefs.

Getting back to God may seem a bit scary at first. We have a tendency to think that we aren’t going to be welcome after all of this time, or that God is going to be angry with us for staying away for as long as we have. What we don’t remember is that to God there is no time. To Him, all time is NOW. Jesus told the story of the one lamb out of the hundred that was lost and how the shepherd was glad to find it. So it is with God. We are always welcome back, the door is always unlocked. If you still have trouble believing you are welcome, then just look at the arms of Jesus on that cross. They are spread wide, welcoming us with those open arms.

If you have been away from God for a while, whether a long while or a short one, then it is time to come home. The door is unlocked, the candle is in the window, and Jesus is waiting for you with those eternally open arms, just waiting to hug you and tell you, “Welcome Back!” What are you waiting for?