A very common saying is “Home is where the heart is,†and that is very true. And most of us would agree that home is more than a building or geography. There are smells, voices, music, and even foods that remind us of home and can bring up feelings of comfort and love. Home is a destination for all of us on journeys. There are those who believe that the journey is the important factor in the trip. I don’t agree.
If I was in a plane flying from Atlanta to London and the pilot suddenly came on the PA and said, “We will not be landing in London. We have an unending supply of fuel and so we are just going to continue to fly around. There is no final destination.†Most of us would be pretty upset.
All of us have a final destination. Unless Jesus returns first, we are all going to die. No one is exempt from this. It is the most democratic of events. Rich or poor, old or young, Democrat or Republican, we will all die. In God’s plan for me, this life is just the first chapter in my story.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven!4 Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people.5 God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children. 6 God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.
7-8 Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,9 and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways. 10 Then when the time is right, God will do all that he has planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth.       Ephesians 1:3-10 (CEV)
God has this wonderful home for me. It is everything that I want. I am not even fully aware of the things that I want in this home that will make me feel loved and cherished. God knows and He has prepared such a place. And He has also created me with a desire in my heart to be in this home with Him. It is why that nothing in this world can truly satisfy me. It is normal for me, as God’s child, to feel out of step and never completely comfortable with this life. I am not truly home – yet
The celebration of coming home will be beyond any words I can put down here. Scripture has many who have tried to put it into words. The apostle, John, in his pastoral letter called Revelation uses the word “like†many times as he tries to describe what it was to be reunited with Christ and what it will be when God’s promises are all fulfilled.
The song that I am sharing today is one that makes me tap my foot and smile and then the tears come. I remember a woman named Katie and a man named John and a day that I was part of a choir and sang this for Katie’s homecoming. I can’t wait to sing this song again, with no tears and with all the Saints when we come together – home with our Father.
Swingin’ with the Saints written by Mark Hayes & sung by the Suffolk All-County Choir, Edward P. Norris III, conductor
