Home?

I’ve settled in. Unpacked. I have everything ready to give away to everyone I was thinking about here in the Philippines, while I was in the States. Just waiting on my Mom to do proper ‘portioning’ on the rest of the goodies she packed. Figured I’d get in on that so I can add value to my own giveaways.

So all that’s done. I’m relieved. Adjusted, probably.

But am I home?

2 songs on my Spotify queue right now: Wherever I May Roam by Metallica & Home by Planetshakers. The latter’s chorus goes, ‘I know I am home, safe within my Savior’s arms, right back where I belong’… paired up with ‘Anywhere I roam, where I lay my head is home’.

It’s the audio equivalent of pineapple on pizza. Outlandish, but it works. Sometimes.

But those lyrics work for me right now. As I ponder on where I stand here in Baguio, or anywhere for that matter, the one thing that I must always remember is that home is not a place – you don’t GO home, you’re home, wherever you are. Christ’s finished work guarantees this.

And you can go ahead and call this the ‘oneness Gospel’ or categorize it any way you want to. This probably looks and feels the same under the sun to those of us who have known and lived the Gospel in their own way with Christ for far longer than I have, but, really, this hasn’t just been the flavour of the month for me, more like flavour of the decade (and counting).

You don’t GO home. You ARE home. Wherever you are, Christ and His finished work have guaranteed that you are home. That feeling I was treated to at the Wailing Wall earlier this year? I remember it now and I realize, that shouldn’t just be a feeling I take, write about, post about, and leave at that. It’s more than a feeling. It’s a Truth that ought to thrive in us, for us consequently to thrive.

In fact, the Truth thrives personally, in the sense that the prevalent thought in my mind now is not to settle in and rest in Baguio, but to get moving. Though we’re in the final quarter of 2018 when the general consensus is to wind down and the plan for the next year, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to get a head start for 2019, starting this mid-October.

While thinking about all that I need to do specifically, what Truth we gain and re-learn in and through Christ just fascinates me even more. Indeed, in any season, we can step out of our comfort zones with little to no fear, knowing full well that the God of all comfort is with us, and yet not just with us, but alive in us, ablaze in us.

So to answer the question, I have a home here in Baguio, but I don’t feel ‘home’ because of that.

The God of Peace, the God of Comfort has made His home in me.

And in Him, I am home.