There’s no place like home! It is great to go away, take a vacation, etc. But I always enjoy walking back in the door of the place called “home.” There is nothing quite like it. We have had international students live with us for a summer; and we liked it and they liked it. But after a while, they were ready to go home.
The only thing I like about a blizzard is that I am stuck at the place I most like to be – I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything, because I can’t. I can just enjoy being home!
If you had to live for a while at the home of someone else, would you lay claim to all their things? Would you grasp their possessions like you could not dare to let them go? Would you pretty much forget all about your real home? Of course not! But we are often like that in our Christian experience. The fact of the matter is that we are not home in this world, so we should not grasp the things of this world like they belong to us in some eternal way.
Abraham was content to wander all his years after leaving his former home to go to a place of God’s calling.
HEB 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
HEB 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Do you admit you are an alien and a stranger on earth? That is a very healthy perspective to gain, and it demonstrates maturity and godly attitude. In fact, aging and the multiplied sorrows of life may well be seen as a grace of God – to help us let go of this passing world and cause our glance to ever more be cast toward eternal shores.
The following story is one of the oldest illustrations floating around “Evangelical Preacher World,” but does so because it packs a very potent perspective. After the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt ended, he went on an extended safari to Africa and shot many wild animals to bring home for display in the Smithsonian Institution. It was a famous trip in the public eye; and when he returned, a huge group from the press corps greeted him at the dock along with marching bands. On that same ship was an elderly couple, also returning from Africa after a lifetime of service there as missionaries. Unlike TR, there was not a soul to greet them. And in the taxi, the husband spoke a bit sourly of the seeming injustice of the matter as viewed by eternal values. All his wife said was, “Honey, we need to remember that we are not really HOME yet.”
2 Peter 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
Seriously 
I’ve been following the Orioles (The Baseball team) over the past few weeks, mostly just catching an inning or two on the radio or catching a few relays on the internet a day later.
It occured to me that being successful is often just a matter of some of the smaller things in life. Most of the Orioles games of late involved losing a game by just one run. A few weeks back though I remember thinking that many of the Orioles games were going in the Orioles favor … again usually by just one run.
So there is a little bit of a lesson here. Ah … Randy … what is the lesson? God wants us to be victorious, overcomers in the Christian walk.
One thing certainly is total commitment. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Sometimes we disregard certain aspects of our spiritual life. Maybe we neglect to obey Peter’s advice in 1st Peter 3:15-16 to “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
To not prepare to give an answer (not engage in apologetics) is like a baseball team without a good closer. Any lead or good information that we provide about Jesus gets blasted away by counter-arguments that we lack interest in learning about.
Ah yes… there is a wonderful baseball illustration for every issue of life! Excellent comment.