Home

Home. Home is defined in many different ways. It brings memories and laughter. It causes loneliness and longing. To some it causes fear and panic. Home. Where is home? This is a question I have asked myself for several months now. Every day, every hour I have asked myself, "Where is home?". And the answer came. It came so softly and so suddenly that it has changed the way I will view home for the rest of my life. Home is where Christ is. Where Jesus is, let our home be as well. How easily we call a place, a house, a family "home". But these "homes" can be taken from us so quickly. Our houses can be destroyed without warning. Our families can be taken from us in the blink of an eye. And what we once called "home" no longer exist. And when and if that happens, we are left shaken, stumbling in the dark to find our home.

But here is absolute truth: Christ can never be destroyed. He never leaves us. He can never be taken from us. He never changes. He is sure and stable. He is strong and unshakable. He provides all that we desire, and need. He provides safely and security. He fills us up when we are empty and broken. He listens and answers. He encourages and disciplines. He shelters and covers us. When we lie down to sleep, He is there. When we awake, He is there. In Him alone is fullness of joy, peace and contentment. In Him alone is love and the very essence of who we really are. If that is not home, then I do not know what is. Is does not matter what kind of house we live in, where we live, whom we live with. It is nothing compared to the home we have in Christ alone.

So when everything around you crumbles. When you are in pain, filled with sorrow, afraid or even terrified and deep within you cry "I want to go home!", set your eyes, your hearts, your hope, upon Jesus, and you will finally be home. Soli deo gloria: Glory to God Alone.

Knowing

Rich Mullins. I love this man. He was a man after Gods own heart. A man who lived for God and God alone. His life is so inspiring. It was not always pretty, but it was filled and lived for one thing: Jesus. As I read his book and biography, I am inspired, convicted and renewed. Rich Mullins. I love this man. By no means was he a saint. He was not perfect. Something I can relate to. But again, he was someone who sought so deeply and so desperately the Heart of God.

Jesus is a touchy subject. Especially today. People believe what they want to believe and make up their own truth about Him. But the truth about Jesus and who He is can not be touched. It cannot be shut out. It cannot be made into something it is not. History points to this time and time again. His truth always prevails. It always will. What does it mean to know the heart and mind of God? To truly know Him? J.I Packer once wrote "Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a persons heart...for what higher, more exalted and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?". So, as this day begins anew, I set my eyes, my heart, my mind and my soul to know God. To truly know Him. He has never failed me. He never will. All things are in His hands, even the sparrows. How can I not want to know Him?

Life is short, which to some is a blessing and to others a curse. Either way, the truth of the matter is this: we all die someday. We will not live forever (here on earth that is). Rich Mullins died in a car crash in 1997. He was 41 years old. So as my time on this earth winds down, how do I want to live? I want to fully live for the Lord. We are in existence because of Him. He does not exist because of us. We did not create Him, He created us. We owe Him everything, He owes us nothing. Yet time and time again, we turn away, we care only for ourselves and forget completely about Him. And time and time again, He forgives us, redeems us and give us this amazing grace to once again walk with Him, to know Him again. He never gives up on us. Nothing separates us from His love. Our mistakes, past, present and future are already forgotten. How could we not want to know and love a God like that?!

As I begin to live, to truly live, I seek one thing: That the Lords desires for my life, become my desires. That His hope for my life, becomes my hope. That something beautiful comes out of my life. That when my life here is finally over, it will be a life that was lived and filled with one thing: Jesus. May He have full sway over my soul, be fully formed within me and fill me with all the fullness of Himself. That is why we were created. That is why we are here. Soli deo gloria: Glory to God alone.