Home Sweet Home

03/14/2005

A friend recently gave me a T-shirt. Printed on the front is a picture of a trailer, and underneath the picture are the words, “There’s No Place Like Home.” I love it! Think of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz,” clicking her red heals together and saying three times, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” She then finds herself back in her own bed, surrounded by those she loves most, realizing all that she had been “living through” was all just a dream after receiving a bump on her head from the debris caused by a tornado. Everything we saw her experience wasn’t even real, although when watching the movie it seemed as if she really did travel to the Land of Oz where munchkins and wicked witches lived.

I wear my new T-shirt in fun, with a smile on my face, enjoying the humor that it displays. Living in a “trailer” is not the American dream. It’s not many people’s dream, although I think we’ve got our kids thinking it’s not such a bad idea. I sometimes wonder what kind of example we are setting for them…?  To most, living in a trailer is not a success story. It is not the place where most want to settle down and spend the rest of their days--and yet some do! There is a gentleman living in the trailer park we are settled in for a while now, and he has lived here for almost 29 years! He came to this country from Portugal 30 years ago, possibly to discover the American dream, and here he is. Some would say he never found his dream, but just from the brief encounters we have had with him so far, he seems a pretty happy fellow!

Our trailer sits on wheels, so we pretty much know we will not be in this spot for 29 years. In fact, we were here less than a week when we pulled out for a short trip, returning a week later. That’s the difference between an RV and a Mobile Home. One is much more mobile than the other. We prefer the one with the wheels that keep on turning! Our “home” is anywhere we park it, and that’s pretty awesome!

All this makes me think of reading about our temporary assignment on earth in, “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren. I spent some time at the mall the other day, while Jim got his eyes tested for new glasses, and I wandered around. As I did, I spotted a pair of black, Converse high-tops in one of the store windows. I walked over to take a closer look at the shoes that our son, Phil, used to love so much when he lived on this earth. I wanted a close-up look--just because--and as I stood there I told Phil how much I missed him. I knew he could not hear me, but that didn’t matter. I talked on anyway. As I turned to walk away from the shoes into the center of the upper-level of the mall, I told Phil how I would see him again one day. I leaned on the railing, gazing down at the shoppers that seemed so engrossed in their purchases, and I thought about how temporary this all is—and I was thankful. I was so thankful that this is not our permanent home. There is great peace in knowing that all this is only a temporary assignment, because on the days when it hurts so very much, when we miss someone beyond words, when life just doesn’t seem fair, we can know that this too shall pass.

It makes me think about all the things we must endure while we are here, and how much easier that endurance can be if we know it will not last forever. When we are in the midst of something, it can seem like forever, but that’s not reality. Reality is that it will pass. It may takes months or even years, sometimes even a lifetime, but it will pass, because we will. We will pass away, we are not meant to live here forever. Our real Heavenly Home waits for those who believe in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They will fade away like a flower in a field.
The hot sun rises and dries up the grass, the
flower withers, and its beauty fades away.
James 1:10-11 (NLT)

This life is so temporary, but most times we treat it like it is our permanent home. We get so tied up in the activities of our day, the stresses in our life and the plans for our future, that we forget God is in control asking us to rely on Him, to trust Him and to follow Him. When we awake from this life into the reality of heaven, we will really be Home. We will never have to leave there again. It will not pass away; it will be a forever assignment that we will love!

“The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why, as followers of Jesus, we experience difficulty, sorrow, and rejection in this world. It also explains why some of God’s promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unanswered, and some circumstances seem unfair. This is not the end of the story.” (The Purpose Driven Life, page 49-50)

Isn’t that great to know? This is not the end of the story! This is not home! This is only temporary, and whatever we must deal with here, it is only a preparation for the glory of heaven that is to come!

In watching a movie recently, a young woman ended up in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. As I saw her sitting there, I could not help but thinking, it’s so good this life is only temporary. One day, she will be free of that body and she will be free of her paralysis. Maybe I should have been thinking, how sad, how awful, how unfair, but what would that change? What would that change in my own life, in missing my own son? Nothing at all. It would not bring him back, it would not heal my heart, it would only be more destructive than helpful. If I dwelled on seemingly unanswered prayers, unfair circumstances, sorrow and difficulty, I would be buying into the lie that this is all there is and I better make it work, or life has failed me! Life has not failed me and God has not failed me! This is only a temporary situation!

Another story told in Rick Warren’s book, talks of a missionary coming home to America on the same boat as the president. The missionary complained to God that he was not welcomed home like the president was with the cheering crowds and red carpet treatment--he started slipping into self-pity and resentment. “Then God gently reminded him, ‘But my child, you’re not home yet.’” He goes on to say, “At death you won’t leave home—you’ll go home.”

I love that! I love that Phil did not leave home, he went Home! He was welcomed by his heavenly family, by his Father, by his Brother, by his Comforter! And I know he was happy to be there because two days before he went Home, he got a glimpse of it. I believe it was a gift from God to him and to me. As I watched my son’s earthly body dying before me, he slipped away for just a bit, and when he came back, he was angry that he still had to be here. He was ready to go Home! He was ready to be done with this temporary assignment and start the assignment that would last an eternity!

Does that make it easy for those of us left behind? No! The only thing that can make it easier is when we fully realize that this too shall pass, that we too shall travel on Home, and that what we must endure here is miniscule compared to the wonder of eternity in Heaven! Until that becomes our reality, we will continue to believe that this is all there is. We will continue to be trapped by the enemy in the frustration that can come with this temporary assignment.

Recently, my best friend fell while she was running. She broke her elbow, and thank you God, it was not a terrible break. Also, I just heard of a young girl who broke her pelvis while snowboarding. Brokenness of all kinds comes to our lives, just because we live here, it cannot be avoided. Some brokenness is not so serious, some is. I thought of having a cast put on for six to eight weeks, and our acceptance of that. It is how most broken bones heal properly. It’s a temporary situation that must be dealt with, and we know that when the bones have healed, the cast will come off. But what would our reaction be if when we broke a bone, a cast was put on for the rest of our lives? We would not be so willing to accept it! It would seem almost unbearable to live with such an inconvenience. Temporarily, we can accept so much more--to think that what has happened will be permanent is so much harder!

If I think of missing Phil as being permanent, it is almost unbearable to live with. It is more than my mind can comprehend and more than my heart can contain. It would bury me alive in self-pity, stealing any joy that God offers us in this life. But when I know that it is only a temporary condition, that the cast that restricts me from seeing him will one day be removed and I will be free to be with my son for all of eternity, it is much more acceptable on this day. This too shall pass, this is not all there is, no matter how seemingly unfair it is. It doesn’t matter quite as much when God has something so much greater in store for us when this life is finished. He has a plan, and His plan includes a reunion beyond our wildest dreams! That, I can live with!!

Those in frequent contact with the things of the world
should make good use of them without becoming attached
to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.
1 Corinthians 7:31 (NLT)

We get so attached to our homes, to our jobs, to our friends and especially to our loved ones. We just can’t see life without the things that we come in “frequent contact” with. We wonder what our life would look like without them, and most times we don’t want to know. What we miss in that kind of thinking is the “beyond” that God offers us. If we are not willing to give up a certain job when God calls us to, we will miss what He has waiting for us just beyond that door of opportunity. If we are not willing to leave our homes when God calls us to, we might miss the adventure of a lifetime that God has planned. If we will not hold our friends and our family with an open hand, we will never be willing to let them go should they be taken from us. Their lives are not within our control, the day they were born was not planned by us and the day they die is not planned by us—even where they will live and what they will do is not up to us. It is between them and God and we are only given the privilege of being a part of their lives for as long as God allows.

Phil is gone from me. I know that. I cannot have him back on this earth, but if I so choose, I can still hold onto him. I can still cling to what was, and put myself in that cast of mourning for the rest of my days on this earth. I can live in the restrictions of that bondage and never be free to move around as God calls me to. I can limit each day I live by holding onto what was, but will never be again on this earth. God gives us the freedom to choose that, but He also calls us beyond that into an adventure of a lifetime. An adventure that is filled with His miracles and seeing His provisions when it seems life has been too cruel. God is not cruel, He is just and fair and right. What happens on this earth can be very painful, but once again, we can live with that pain if we know it is only temporary. Temporary is a very hope-filled word when looked at in the light of eternity!

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever. So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)

When I walk over to a store window and look at Converse tennis shoes because they remind me of Phil, I am tempted to “look at the troubles” I can see rather than “look forward to what” I have not yet seen. I used to linger longer in those places, letting sorrow fill me up and spill out…but as time passes and as God heals my heart, I don’t linger there quite so long anymore. I am much more willing to take a look at the trouble, see it for what it is, and walk away thanking God for how temporary life is. Strange, isn’t it? We cling to life, I wanted to cling to my son, to his life, and yet now I am thankful that life is temporary! Because if it were not, not temporary, then this cast of sorrow would be forever, and that is unbearable. That is Hell on earth--that is hopelessness.

The reason God had to prohibit Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Life after eating from the Tree of Knowledge was because He wanted to save them from eternal life on earth. God knew the sorrows, the toils and the trials they were to face now that they had disobeyed Him and eaten of the forbidden fruit. Sin had entered their lives and to allow that to last forever would be unbearable! God had to get them out of the garden and then make their life, our lives, on earth a temporary situation so we could always have the hope of God’s original design for our lives!

Then the Lord God said, “The people have become as we are,
knowing everything both good and evil. What if they eat the
fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord
God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden…After
banishing them from the garden the Lord God stationed mighty
angelic beings to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed
back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22-23 & 24

God loved us so much that He would not allow us to live here eternally. He didn’t want what was good for us, He wanted what was best for us, and we gave that up when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. We wonder where God is when those we love must die, when really God is simply allowing their suffering to be over and their blissful eternity to begin. We wonder where God is when we miss them so, when we think we cannot live another day without them, when really God has provided a way for us to see them again if we will only believe in His One and only Son, Jesus Christ to take away our sins. Sins that started in the garden and sins that lead us all into a life of turmoil if we are not willing to accept the peace that a Hope in Jesus Christ restores!

God has a perfect plan. It is a very simple one, really. God created us, we messed up and God forgives us through the sacrifice of His Son when we believe. The world God created is not our permanent home anymore. Life here is only temporary. Troubles here are only temporary. We are free from the bondage of the evil one when our lives are in Christ. Any control Satan has over us will end one day and we’ll wake up in Heaven after a few thumps on our heads, surrounded by those we love, and it will be so good to be Home at last!!

Since you have been raised to a new life with Christ,
set your sights on the realities of heaven, where
Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor
and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not
think only about things down here on earth. For you
died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden
with Christ in God.
James 3:1-3 (NLT)

When Jesus ascended into heaven, He didn’t leave us behind with broken hearts. He left us behind with the Hope of His return and an eternity spent with Him!

Looking up,

Diane