Home???

"Home is where the heart is." "Home is where you hang your hat." There are these and several other sayings to try and capture just what a home really is. Songs are sung about it, poems are written about it, and it means something different to everyone. Is home a place, or a state of mind?

This past weekend I went up to Chicago to spend time with my extended family on my mom's side of the family. For the weekend, my Uncle Mark's was home. Kind of ironic since I lived there for my student teaching so it was like coming home again. Last weekend my church threw a homecoming party for me at my current location here in Florida, so that was home. When I visited a good friend and his wife in Auckland, New Zealand, that was home. When I go overseas and spend a summer, that place is home for me for a couple months.

Since I've lived in Sarasota 6 years I've moved at least 6 times and probably more; especially if you count when I'm overseas. For the past 8 months I lived out of a backpack, was that my home? What makes a home? Is it the familiarity of it? The people who you share it with? The feeling of belonging that you have when you're in a house around loved ones? I'd argue that home has a lot more to do with a feeling than a place. In 2006, I went to Kenya with a group of about 10 of us. Though I was halfway around the world, I've never felt such a sense of true belonging. In addition to being so many other things, that was a perfect example of being home to me. Where people know you and you know them and it breeds familiarity and community. It's a beautiful thing really. I wonder how many people feel lonely on a continual basis and are not at peace but have a house that's not a home? I wonder how many homeless people have found community amongst themselves and though they don't have a physical house have found a home?

Is a country one's home? No doubt people are often most at ease when they're in their own culture. I don't think that necessarily means that a country is one's home though. Several of my friends are living overseas and they consider that to be their new home. Home is where you make it, not where you're from. Quincy, Illinois was my home for several years, but if I go back there I wouldn't consider it to be 'coming home.' My parents don't live there and my best friends from there have all moved far away so I don't really know anyone from there. Florida is my current home, I've made some lifelong friends here and have settled down for the last 6 years, minus the past 8 months when I was overseas on my round the world trip.

All this talk reminds me of a parable that Jesus taught about who our neighbor is. Someone had asked Him who his neighbor was and he gave the parable of the good Samaritan. No matter where we find ourselves in this world, we are called to love our neighbor, both near and far. What would the world look like if we took that commandment seriously? What would it look like to love your neighbor as yourself? Would there be any homelessness? Would there be any poverty? Would there be enough resources to go around? We are an incredibly selfish species. What if we took Jesus at His Word and loved God with everything we had and loved our neighbor as ourselves? Even if we have a family we usually just worry about our own family and not the world around us. I'm guilty of this just as much as the next person. I wonder just how differently we'd live our lives if we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves. Just an interesting thought to ponder and try to make a reality. Let's make the kingdom of God a reality on this earth as it is in heaven, shall we?