Thoughts on home

After our recent camping trip we drove back to David's sister's place for a few more days. As we drove in the front gate we said, "We're home." That quickly got edited by the family into: "We're back at our home away from home away from home."

Our home-away-from-home-away-from-home.

Does that make sense? If you trace it back, Tokyo is "home" and Ipswich is our "six-month temporary home-away-from-home" and their aunt's place was our even more temporary "home".

Yes, "the question of where is home" is an ongoing theme in our lives. We were on the receiving end of a Q & A session at the church we spoke at on Sunday. It's another church that has been journeying with us for nearly two decades now. A wonderfully mission-minded bunch of people. We fielded many excellent, thoughtful questions. One was related to the question of "home". David quite simply stated that "We have two homes now."

It's very true. They are different in so many ways, but each has enough of a quality of "feeling at ease" in it that we can call them both home. We have spent enough time in both places that we have significant memories stored away for both. 

But the "home away from home" feeling that our boys expressed about Australia is revealing. Australia isn't a place that our boys feel so much at home in. They have spent much more time in Japan than Australia and don't have the years of memories of growing up here that we have.

At another time recently I was reading a passage in John and noticed Jesus using the word "home":

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (John 14:23 NIV).

What a wonderful thought: that God comes and makes his home with me . . . which really means that no matter where I am, no matter where I call Home, I'm "at home" with him!