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Anyone who has been reading my devotionals over the years will clearly know one thing: I am NOT a home-body! As soon as my wife had any vacation time whatsoever, I would be planning a trip somewhere. As a result, we have thoroughly explored Canada, we have visited much of the United States, we've been to New Zealand and Australia, Mexico, five different Caribbean Islands, Iceland, and numerous countries in western Europe. We've even been to Poland!
Yes travel has always been a passion of mine, and after retirement, I looked forward to spending the cold Canadian winters somewhere ... anywhere! ... warm! And for the first three years after retirement, this is what we did. We went to Australia, the Caribbean and the American southwest for the winters, and in the summers, we made long trips out west to see our son and daughter-in-law. That first year we went to Alberta via California and the Oregon Coast. The next year we went via Montana and thoroughly explored this beautiful state.
Then COVID hit, and our travel plans screeched to a halt. It was a loooong first year. My wife and I did some local camping trips, and we began exploring our local region. In 2021 interprovincial travel opened back up, and though we couldn't go anywhere warm for the winter, the summer found us towing our travel trailer all the way across Canada. Our goal was to visit our kids in Alberta, but somehow we managed to make it all the way to Vancouver, and somehow, thanks to a local airline as the border with the United States was still closed to car travel, we ended up in Northern California!
We had plans to go to Hawaii that winter, but a travel advisory went into effect, and those plans were thwarted. The US/Canadian border was once again open, however, so that summer we made our way, travel trailer in tow, to Virginia and North Carolina. Later we again hitched up the little "follower" and drove through Michigan, Wisconsin and into Minnesota before cutting north to Manitoba and then heading through the Canadian prairies to Alberta. We even visited Jasper that summer!
We went to Hawaii in the winter of 2023, but that would be our last winter trip. This is where my dementia caught up to me. The disorientation I experienced upon setting foot on that airplane was scary to say the least. It was warm, yes; but I didn't enjoy my time away at all. In fact, we ended up coming home early. My wife planned one little camping trip down into the Finger Lakes region of New York a few months later, but that didn't go well either. It was just too confusing and disorienting to be away from home!
As the weeks and months continued to go by, my dementia-related disorientation became more and more pronounced. It wasn't long before I no longer wanted to go on long car trips at all. In fact, I'd take my seatbelt off and try to get out of the car as it drove down the road! Enough is enough!
I would go to the store with my wife at first, and maybe to a restaurant; but gradually even these things lost their appeal. Now all I want to do is ... stay home!
What a change!
But wait. Is longing for home such a bad thing?
As I read through the Bible I see I'm in pretty good company. Take the Apostle Paul. He too longed for home. Not his earthly home, but his heavenly one: "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." (2 Corinthians 5:1-4 NIV).
Paul goes on to even tell us why we have this longing: "Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 5:5 NIV). In other words, God made us in such a manner. He has put His Spirit in us as a deposit!
I find that as much as I long to stay in my earthly house, I am also beginning to long for my heavenly one. Just like I was anything but a home-body in my younger days, I have to admit I didn't spend a lot of time longing for Heaven either. How much happier would I have been if I had longed for Heaven all my life as much as I used to long to travel!
The Bible tells us that there is a special crown for those who long for Jesus' second coming: "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2 Timothy 2:8 NIV)
Yes, Heaven will be a wonderful place. It is our citizenship, it is the place where our earthly bodies of clay will be transformed. No more pain, no more sickness: "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (Philippians 3:20-21 NIV)
What about you? Would you like to join me in being a "home-body" for our Heavenly home?
Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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