What a journey!

The past couple of weeks have been amazing in so many ways.  God used them to open my eyes, my heart, and my life up to so much more.  I met incredible people from all over Asia (and even a few from the U.S. believe it or not… HA!)  Honestly, to reflect on it is to count the blessings of what will forever be my 'first trip to Asia'.  I know that it was the beginning of incredible things to come.  I'd had suspicions, but it's now become quite clear.  God has plans for Janna and I that include Asia, and I'm speechless at the thought.  What exactly it might look like is beyond my comprehension at this point.  All I know is that this trip was merely an introduction to a HUGE continent filled with amazing people, and that I have been invited to begin sharing life with a handful of them.

That said, it is incredibly good to be home.  As I sat on the plane from Korea to Seattle the other day (a 10 hour flight!) I was feeling exhausted, anxious, etc.  Suddenly I began to think of our house in Comox, and the home that God is building for us here.  Immediately my heart was at peace, and I was filled with contentment.  I am so thankful for the incredible life that God has given to me.  Janna and I have really started to put down roots here in this Valley, and no matter where our journey's take us, we feel strongly that this place will continue to be a place of rest and refuge for us for many years.  In other words… this is home.

The gift of 'home' is one that I believe to be universally treasured.  It looks different all over the globe, but it is of a high priority and deep value to most.  The truth is, many people live without it in our culture, and yet even they seem to fight for it, search for it, and live with a longing for it.  Home is place where you are known, where your heart is trusted and allowed to find it's way.  Home is a safe place where we are able to truly be ourselves.  A place of peace, rest, life, and love.  Ultimately, I believe this longing is for Heaven. Heaven – a place where 'home' is all the things I've described our Earthly home to be, only there it is complete in all these things. 

I wrote a song a while back called 'Where I Belong' (I'll try to record it in the next bit so you can hear it).  It speaks of a longing in each of us for Home.  In it there is a lyric that says

I've found a place

Where I belong here

Safely at rest

In the arms of my Father

The lyric is a description of home!  Many of us can deeply relate to the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  All of us have in different ways taken our inheritance and 'left home' for what we figured was a better option.  This inevitably has left us with this shared longing to return home.  One of my favorite books of all time is called Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen.  In it He uses his reflections on Rembrandt's painting – the Prodigal Son – to speak of dive deeply into this parable from Luke 15.  This painting has become a deep and ever growing inspiration to me (I have a print of it hanging in my worship room that Marty and Keri brought me from Russia).  It is a reminder to me that I have a home, now in part, and one day in all it's perfection.  I wrote another song while Jayda was sick, and it speaks to the traveler on this journey towards home.  It's called travel on, and the chorus encourages us to

Travel on

Sweet Child

Journey on

So here I am.  Home, after an incredible couple of weeks, I'm Home.  I praise God today for the blessing of this place, and the taste of things to come that it is has become for me.  I pray for each of you today… that God would help you find home.  Heaven is not a place on Earth, and yet Home is not only a place that can be found after death.  Christ's invitation to 'fullness of life' is surely an invitation to come home.