Recently I came home from two weeks abroad. Those of you that travel understand that It’s always good to come home; but as a “home-body”, I, more than most, really appreciate my home, and my home country! Travel is fine, and in many regards help me appreciate the home and home-folks more and more. But my return this past time also reminded me about some spiritual truths of the ultimate home-coming we all yearn for.
The first “truth” is that the eldest boy in our home was at airport on-time to pick me up. That might not be a big matter to you, but after traveling for thirty-five years, I can attest that it is both disheartening and annoying to come home and no one is there to pick you up at baggage claim. In the past, the camp staff have pretty consistently picked me up late. Sometimes it’s only a few minutes, sometimes its an hour or more. Coming home with no one waiting to take you home hurts—I don’t know how else to describe it. And excuses, traffic jams, having to stop for gas en route, etc don’t allay that sense of disappointment.
On this return I arrived at the airport early, I was at the luggage claim area early, and I knew that the young man would not be there yet because, as I said, I was early. I could already imagine him not being there for me when I got my luggage and how I would begin to get my feelings hurt, etc. But the moment I got my luggage off the conveyor belt and turned around he was walking in the door. He was, in fact, precisely on time.
How much energy and how many hours do I waste worry thing that God’s going to be late? How often does the enemy play with my mind as night when I wonder about the consequences of God not showing up at all when I need Him the most. In my life God has never come to my rescue early, and there are times I thought He was not coming at all, but then I found out He was with me at the precise time I needed Him——not when I demanded that I would need Him, but when I really needed Him. He’s never late, but He operates on a different clock than I do.
When I got home the pets were waiting to see me. Their “hero” had returned home! They ran around excitedly while I unpacked and then played and seemed to be smiling about the return of their sovereign. That night when I went to my room, exhausted from fourteen hours of travel and six hours of jet—I saw greeted by both dachshunds and the wolf had already in the bed waiting for me-something they do not normally do. It’s as if they were saying, “You’re not leaving us behind again!” The dogs showed a happiness that they were no longer “abandoned” —— they don’t like being alone and when the “master” comes home, they don’t want him to leave again.
How blessed of a day is coming when we will be “home” forever. Never alone, never to be abandoned again, never again to be dismayed or given a reason to be anxious again. A very good friend, watched his wife go home the night I wrote this little devotion. Now she knows what I am talking about, first hand.
God sent His only Son here 2000+ years ago so that we could come to know freedom from overwhelming control and guilt of sin, the certainty of God’s love, the peace of knowing that He is in control and is never, ever going to forget me, and that He is waiting for me—-and you. And now my greatest hope is to hear Him say gently one day, “Well done, welcome home”.