HOME

Home

What does that mean?  I left home so that I could come home.  I was home in my temporary home for very short periods of time. The rest of the time, I stayed in very short-term homes so I could visit people all over the States and tell them of what God is doing at home.  Then when it was time to go back home, I went home so I could pack and get ready.  After that, I got on a plane and traveled for hours so that I could go home.  When I got there, I still wasn't really home yet, but I was getting closer.  After a week of being almost home, I finally got home.

Are you confused?  Me too.  :).  What is home to one who lives away from their original home?  Is home here in Turkana?  Is it in Colorado?  Indiana?  Tennessee?  Missouri?  Ohio?  Alabama? Illinois? Oregon? Texas? Florida?  I was in all those places over the past 12 months and felt at home.  At the same time, I was missing home.  Now I am back in Kenya and still missing home.

Home to me has come to mean the place where I am.  It also means the place where I'm from.  There are a couple of places that I consider home more than others.  But.  Even when I am in one of those home places, I am not in them all.  So I miss the others.  I have returned to my home in Lodwar, Kenya.  When I arrived in Kenya, I was welcomed home by some wonderful friends and teammates.  They even gave me some beautiful roses as a welcome home present to enjoy while I was staying with them in Nairobi.  It was wonderful, exciting, comforting and joyful to be home.  It was also sad, heart wrenching and painful to have left home.  All those emotions all rolled up into a very jet-lagged person can be disconcerting!  I have survived and gotten over jet-lag.  Even so, I am still confused about home.

I think I will be confused about home until I am finally really home with the Lord.  I am sure you have heard it said that "this world is not my home.  I'm just passing through."  When you live a long way from your original home, or you have moved around a lot in your life, I think this saying is a little easier to understand.  I am at home here in this world in several very different places.  Any one of those places feels like home, but they also feel like something is missing.  My other homes are missing!  So, when we are finally together at home with the Lord, my homes will all be together with Him too.  I am looking forward to that day.  There will be no more sorrow in my heart from missing my other home and the family and friends that are associated with them.  My home will be even bigger too because those people and places (which are very many right now) that don't feel like home right now will also be home with the Lord and I will be at home with them.

Okay, enough talk about home.  I wanted to share a little of what I was thinking and feeling the first few days after I arrived back in Kenya on May 20th.  It has been mulling around in my head for a few weeks.  I knew I needed to let people know I made it back here.  So, this is the way I chose to do it.  

Don't give up on me!  I really will be back to blogging more regularly.  I have no excuse for not blogging since February.  I just didn't get it done.  So, I will be catching you up a little on what I did in the early part of this year and sharing more about doing life with the Turkana people.  Enjoy your day and if you enjoyed this little confusing piece about home, why don't you leave me a comment.  It will help me know that someone is reading this little blog and that I really should keep doing it.  I know, that is a shameless plug for getting you to comment.  Just do it for me :).  Thanks for having patience and reading!