My wife, Nancy, and I are feeling a little displaced right now. We have a nice roof over our heads and familiar furnishings around us. But it just doesn’t feel right. Our cabin in the woods felt like home because we built it and lived there longer than we lived anywhere else. It was filled with cherished reminders of times with family and friends that can’t be replicated anywhere else. I left in an ambulance and never returned. Nancy followed the ambulance and never returned. Now we drive past all the places we used to live looking for a place that feels like home.
Having a place that feels like home is a gift from God. I can only imagine how unsettled Adam and Eve felt after being evicted from their garden. Every Bible story after that is in some way part of God’s plan to bring his people back home. Jesus addressed our yearning for home when he said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2).
Jesus left his Father’s house and took up residence in a flimsy tabernacle of flesh just like ours. He had no permanent place to lay his head. His base of operation was here and there. After he did what he came to do, he returned to his mansion above. We can follow him home.
