Found Truths | There’s No Place Like Home

article by Reverend RB Moore

A Sunday school teacher asked her class of youngsters a question. “Where does the good Lord live? Where is the good Lord’s home?” A little boy answered, “In our bathroom!” The teacher asked in amazement, “Why in the world do you think the good Lord makes his home in your bathroom?” The young boy replied, “Because this morning my dad walked down the hall to the bathroom, pounded on the door and hollered, ‘Good Lord! Are you still in there?!’” 

This leads me to pose a question. Where is your home? Monroe, Ruston, Jonesboro, Bastrop, or another place? On the other hand, home may not refer just to a geographical location. Home may also refer to an experience. To understand what I’m trying to say, let’s expand our definition for the word, home. 

For example, the experience of home may invite our minds to travel backward in time. As I look backward in time to my early childhood home, I see a black and white TV set, with an antenna on top called, rabbit ears. I also see a pink and white 1957 Chevy parked in the driveway. What do you see in your early memories of home? As our minds go backward in time, we may experience a sense of home from days gone by. 

Also, home may call us to move forward into the future. For example, have you ever watched a baseball or softball game? Imagine if a batter hits the ball and gets on base. The batter may hit a single, or a double, or a triple. But, if he’s in the Major Leagues and takes steroids, he may hit the ball out of the park! Of course, we then say, “He hit a quadruple!” Is that what we say? No. We say, “He hit a homerun.” We realize the runner gets to run home free. He’s safe at home. In a similar way, as we leave work, school or a vacation spot, home calls us to move forward into the future to experience a place of safety. 

This also leads me to say, there are times, home pulls our emotions outward. In Genesis 45, from the life of Joseph, we see an illustration of how the experience of home may tug at our heartstrings. After years of separation from his family, Joseph’s brothers travel to Egypt to obtain food. As Joseph identifies himself to his brothers, he cries so loudly the Egyptians outside of the room hear him crying. Perhaps, Joseph thinks of home as he asks his brothers, “Is my father still alive?”  Sometimes our family connections from our home hold the power to pull our emotions outward. 

In addition to this, home may lead us inward and touch the depths of our souls. In John 14:23, Jesus claims, “If you say you love me, then obey my teaching. Then you will know my father’s love for you; and we will come to you and make our home with you.” No matter where you are on the map, you may experience home within your soul with God. When God makes a home in our souls, home turns our attention inward. 

With this present, spiritual reality in mind, an eternal aspect relating to home also comes to mind. Home may tug our spirits upward to be at home with God. The Spiritual Song called, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” illustrates this upward pull on our spirits. You know the words. 

“I looked over Jordan and what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot, 
Coming for to carry me home.”

As we sing this song, we believe that we belong to the faithful community still on earth. But one day we will be lifted on high to dwell in our heavenly home with God. Then, our eternal, upward hunger for the higher will be satisfied as we reach our heavenly home. Thanks be to God! Amen.