Heading Home

I just received a message that our team from Honduras just pulled into the parking lot at the church around 5:30 a.m. this Saturday morning. They traveled for close to twenty-four straight hours to get back home. This is included a bus trip, a flight to Houston, and a long late night drive all to get back home to Seminole.

While I write this we are enjoying a few last hours in Ruidoso, NM before we are headed back home as well. Brenda and the boys are still sleeping as I write this recovering from a full day yesterday. All of this got me to thinking about those who have passed from this life into eternity. We are headed home but some have gotten there before the rest of us.

I think about my four year old little sister who drowned in a pond behind our house. Though her loss proved to be excruciating for my mother, my sister went home. Jamie got there way before me and now enjoys the presence of God in ways I can only imagine right now. Though her life ended prematurely some would say she is more alive than I am as I write this. She is home.

Not long after Jamie died my grandfather died. I called him Papaw. He and I were very close. We both loved sports and I spent many a Monday night on his bed with him watching “Monday Night Football.” He died after a long battle with Leukemia when I was a Sophomore in High School. I wept uncontrollably when I learned he died. Now, I know what I experienced in his loss worked for his gain. [Phil 1:21] What a joy to know that He has put sight to his faith and has seen the glory of Heaven and the splendor of the King of Kings. He has fully experienced what I preach and write about in faith. He made it home.

My mother died Mother’s Day weekend back in 1998. Mother’s Day never comes that I do not think of her and us losing her so tragically. She provided care for Taylor during his first couple of years. She spoiled him. She only saw Tanner once and held him while she was in the hospital. She would not recover. It pains my heart to know she never met Tucker or Turner. She never got to know the joy those boys have brought to my life. Yet she has experienced a greater joy than I have ever known down here. She has lived out [Ps 16:11] where in God’s presence she has discovered fullness of joy.

I preached my mother’s funeral. I wanted to point my family to Jesus. When I picked out the marker for her grave I had a special inscription written on it. Her marker reads, “I will meet you at the Pearly Gates.” She made it home before me. She knows rest and peace like I have never known and she too has seen the Lord. I am envious in a way that she made it home before me.

I am not trying to be morbid. I have enjoyed my time away with my family this week I love the call of God on my life. The flock at Seminole are a blessing beyond description. My life is blessed.

The Edwards clan have laughed. We have sat outside and visited. We have taken snap shots. We have eaten sumptuously. We have been awed by the beauty and magnitude of God’s creation. Yet this is not home. We are only visiting in a physical sense. In the spiritual sense we are only visiting as well. We were created for another world. Like the old song says, “This world is not my home I am just a passing through; my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”

Our team who traveled to Honduras arrived home before us. By now they are snuggling under the covers of their own beds and resting their weary bodies on their own pillows. They will awake in their own homes surrounded by love and warmth of loved ones. There have been glad reunions this morning between husbands and wives, parents and children as the team arrived home safely.

My family will start back toward Seminole in about six hours. Lord willing we should arrive home sometime late this afternoon. In my mind I can see the driveway where my truck remains parked. As I will hit the garage door opener I can see the boy’s bicycles parked on the left and my “blue blazer” parked on the right side of the garage. I can see all the baseball equipment and golf clubs. As we walk in the garage door I can envision the kitchen, the dining table, and the living room. I can feel the plush comfort of my chair in the living room and see one of my Bibles I leave on the lamp stand. We will be home. Lord willing we will sleep in our own beds tonight and we will worship with our church family in the morning. We will be home.

There is a longing in me to get to my eternal home. The toil down here takes it toll. The burdens are heavy and the way home is often steep like the mountain roads I have been driving the past several days. While I have life left I want to live to the fullest for the glory of God. No matter what assignments He gives do not let this one fact escape you though.. This world is not my final destination. This is a stopping over point like a layover at an airport. No, this is not my final destination. I am headed home to bask in the presence of Jesus. I am headed home.