Homecoming

My daughter arrived back in the United States on Monday. She has been in Germany for the past 10 months working at a school for children of missionaries. One of the things she has learned while there is what it means to be a resident alien. She has put down roots and built relationships even though she knows that Germany will not be her permanent home. She is a citizen of the United States, and while she loves so many aspects of Germany, it is not home. She is learning the language and the culture so that she might fit in on many levels, but her heart is here where her family and friends are.

This is a picture of all of us who belong to God. Our home is elsewhere. We’ve learned the language of our adopted country, we know how to get around in the culture, but our home is in heaven. Randy Alcorn points out the irony that home for the Christian is a place we’ve never been but for which we were created.

This is why so many Christians refer to death as a home going. And why, in heaven, it is probably referred to as a homecoming. While we live in and love the place we are, there is someplace better suited to us. A place that will, forever, be home.