8/17/13

From Gary... Finding the way "home"


Many thanks to brother Walter Vogt, for allowing me to use his picture!!!


When we consider the word "Home", what comes to our mind?  Perhaps, to some, it is just a place to eat and sleep or to watch television.  To others the emphasis may be on the people who reside there besides you.  It may be a retreat from the bustle of everyday life or a place to relax.  I think we know the answer for this little dog- contentment!!!  How about you?  In thinking about this as applied to myself, I turned to the pages of Scripture, specifically, to the Gospel of John...

John, Chapter 14
1  “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.   2  In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.   3  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.   4  Where I go, you know, and you know the way.” 


  5  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 

  6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 


It took me decades to understand "home".  Growing up, it was a place I hated; somewhere to be abused, ridiculed and experience the darker side of life.  Then, I married and was determined that our house would be a genuine HOME!!!  Again, it took a long time to overcome most of the baggage from my youth, but with God's help, my family always knew I loved them.  It is just Linda and myself now (and the poodles) but HOME is someplace special.  It is a place where love is (even when we have an argument); somewhere that God is acknowledged and loved.  For you see, HIS impact changes things. He gives life and light to a very dark dismal world.  He has given me love and standards to go by AND the hope of something better - HOME, IN HEAVEN!!!  All made possible through Jesus, who, on a daily basis, speaks to my heart through the Bible and shows me the way to heavenly realms. Through JESUS, my darkness has turned to the light of hope and that is something to curl up by the fire and contemplate.  Humm, I wonder if there are woodstoves in heaven???