There's no place like "home".

Dorothy, in a land far away from home, clicks her heels together, closes her eyes and says the famous words “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
Home is one of those words that have a standard dictionary meaning, but it can mean so much more than simply “a place a residence”. When I think of “home”, a famous Australian movie quote comes to mind: “it’s not a house, it’s a home. And a man’s home is his castle.”

I have recently been appointed to Newport, Kentucky for my Railton Internship. It will be an exciting adventure and it will be where I can call “home” for the next 12 months. This past weekend I had the opportunity to say goodbye to my good friends in the Northern New England Division before I prepare to move to Kentucky… probably the furthest most point in the Eastern Territory from Maine! I drove away with watery eyes thinking how much it hurts to say goodbye to people when you leave home. I have many “homes” all over the world. There is of course my native home in Australia, there is my home in Toronto, Canada, there is my home at Camp Sebago, Maine, there is my home in Suffern, NY, and there will be my home in Newport, Kentucky! I realized that wherever I go, I will never actually be “home”. Even when I am in my most natural home in Australia, it still isn’t “home” because there are people and places that I love that are so far away and are so missed.

This thought alarmed me as I realized that being away from “home” is really quite lonely, but the Lord impressed on my heart that there was still one more home that I had forgotten about. I had an epiphany that my real “home” is the home I have waiting for me in Heaven. It will be a place that I will ultimately feel “home”. I won’t be longing for anywhere else. I won’t be in need. I will simply be home! This realization means that no matter where I go on this earth, I do not need to worry if at times I feel lonely or long to see my other homes again. I can rest assured that wherever I am God will keep me safe. He will be the one to make me feel loved and secure and at home with Him. I am blessed to know that wherever I go in this world there will be friends and family that love me, waiting to be a part of my home, wherever that place may be. However, He is the only one that can truly make where I am right now, my home. And I am forever grateful.