The Way Home

My entire family recently decided to take a vacation. Growing up in a large family, some of my best memories with my siblings and parents involved taking trips. Nowadays, with many of us living hours apart, those times together are much fewer and further in between.

But for a week, thanks to my parents’ skillful planning, we were able to spend cherished time together to kick off the start of summer.

To make this trip even better, it wasn’t just the original eight members of my family who attended this adventure. Instead, we were able to add my husband, my sister’s husband, and my little one to the mix of family fun – and fun it was.

That is, until it came time to leave.

The night before we checked out of our room, we found ourselves realizing that we weren’t exactly sure the next time we would see each other again under one roof. Once this thought occurred, I’m not sure that there was a dry eye around.

By the next morning, we had all gone in different directions to make each of our way home.

My brother flew to Tennessee, and the rest of the family drove to various parts of Mississippi. As for my husband and me, we ended up traveling in a car for nearly 14 hours with our infant son. When we reached the driveway, I decided that keeping a seven-month-old entertained for that long takes a talent that I am not entirely sure I possess.

On our journey home, we each encountered different bumps in the road. One party got stuck in traffic, we tried to calm a tired baby, and another group spotted a dangerous tire tread on the road that could have caused a serious accident if anyone had hit it.

Before I knew it, these instances reminded me of something very important. As believers, we, just like my family did after vacation, are all traveling to our eternal home.

In 1 Chronicles 29:15, Scripture explains,

For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.

The word “sojourn,” defined by Merriam-Webster, means “a temporary stay.”

And that is precisely what we, as Christ-followers, are doing!

We are temporarily staying on Earth as we await the hope of Heaven and journeying on to the path until we reach those pearly gates. Thanks to the resurrection of Jesus, those who believe in Him are given the ultimate hope of someday not only seeing the actual Savior face-to-face but also spending eternity in Heaven alongside those who have gone before us.

Philippians 3:20 also shares some insights about this long-awaited goal.

For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Every day, we are inching our way home to Heaven – the place where there are no tears, no pains, and no goodbyes.

I don’t know about you, but I eagerly look forward to that moment when He takes this tired body of mine and creates something new out of it. Yet, before we get there, we must continue to navigate the everyday challenges and adventures.

However, there is another layer to this journey that I can’t help but consider. And that is, who will be coming with us?

As I sat in my parents’ hotel room surrounded by the most important people I’ve ever loved, not knowing the next time I would see all of them again (after all, we aren’t promised another breath), their tear-filled eyes made me miss them before I had even left them!

I couldn’t dare imagine an eternity without them.

As believers, we are called to go and share the gospel and make disciples of Jesus – to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Earth.

[B]ut you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary shares that these places can be considered as different groups of people. It explains that Jerusalem represented family and friends, Judea was a picture of neighbors, Samaria showed enemies (and how we love them), and then the ends of the Earth referred to everyone else.

On our way to our heavenly home, one of the most critical (and often most challenging) tasks we’ve been given is to do everything in our power to minister to our people with the hope of them joining us at Heaven’s door.

So, are we pointing them toward Heaven? Or are we leaving them behind?