HOME...

The past month since becoming a graduate of NGCSU has been a whirlwind of events and emotions. I started off the summer going down to south Georgia for a few days. I was able to take a good friend with me to experience the little quirks of living in rural, small town, south Georgia. Where the roads are straight, you see farmland on all sides, gnats are your only aggravation, and humidity makes your hair twice its normal size. It was good to spend time with family and see a few good friends. The hardest part is knowing that my home will never be among these people and things that I have learned to love and miss so much. A few weeks later I went to Kentucky, my parents' home. Again, it was good to spend time with family, but hard knowing that I will never truly be able to call that home. For the majority of the last month I have stayed in Dahlonega. Is it my home? Not really. Yes, I have an apartment that I've lived in the past 10 months. Yes, I have wonderful friends that I wouldn't trade for the world. Yes, I have a great job with a boss that loves the Lord. Yes, I have three campus ministers that love me and pour into me. So why do I not have a home? I find that answer in the Bible. 1 Peter 2:11 says that we are temporary residents and foreigners in this world. Philippians 3:20 says it this way, "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior." So even as our "home" on earth changes (as mine has many times and will continue to do), we won't really be home until we are with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm reminded that to live is Christ and to die is gain. The spirit and the flesh fight against one another. I am homesick for the perfection I will meet when I pass from this world, but I am compelled to go into all the nations...