Home

Christmas eve service with my family, playing games with extended family on Christmas day, watching American Football at normal hours while just relaxing with family, having funny and deep conversations with friends from way back, and just being home - what a whirlwind, yet peaceful and blessed last couple weeks it was to "Be Home." I am blessed beyond words can express by the family - immediate, extended, and spiritual - that God has given me. At the same time as I was leaving the States, I also found myself talking about "being home" in Vienna. While my parents' house and where my extended family is will always be home to me, I have been reflecting on the use of the word. Vienna is where my current life is, a place with a wonderful church and work family, and where I have the opportunity to do a job I've dreamed of since I was young. I love my home here, yet I find myself so often missing "home." I know that if and when I move back to the States or somewhere else, I will always miss parts of Vienna too. I can't imagine how many of my students feel, who have moved every few years or who have a challenging time identifying their home when their parents' culture is different from the place where they have grown up. I wonder if this is true for them too... No matter where I am or live, on hard days or contemplating days, I find myself thinking, "I just want to be HOME." This longing will never be fully satisfied, because ultimately none of these places are truly my home. Resting in God's love and grace is the closest we are going to get to HOME here on this side of heaven. For Philippians 3:20 says... "But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await our Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." I long to find my identity as a citizen of Heaven and, especially during times of missing another place and people, look to the Lord Jesus in eager expectation for true peace and joy and a future at HOME with Him!