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I John 4: 13-16       We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (NIV)

Luke 23: 43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (NIV)

   My grandma was in a nursing home for a year and ten months before she passed away.  I visited her every single day for the first six months, and frequently after that.  A nursing home is one of the last places I would chose to hang out, yet I loved Grandma, and I wanted to spend time with her as she suffered being bedridden and lonely.  I would talk with her, I would read to her, and I would usually sing one song to her before I left, which also made me popular with her roommate who liked my singing.
   Visiting the nursing home so much, I got to know several residents.  There were some really nice people there.  A few residents were blessed to have family members visit them consistently, but for most residents, visitors came on rare occasions or never.  Then there were a few people who I did not talk with but saw often, since they were often up and about.  One of those folks was Jane, not her real name.  Jane was 103 years old.  She was extremely active.  Normally when I walked down the hall to and from Grandma’s room, at different times, Jane would be shuffling around on her walker.  And though she often was not intelligible, many times she was in a conversation with someone on the hall or to herself.  I never talked with her, but sometimes I would say, “Hi Jane,” when I walked by her.
   One evening I was visiting Grandma a few days before Christmas.  As I walked by Jane, she pushed her walker in front of me and started talking with me for the first time.
   She said with upmost sincerity, “I need to go home.”
   I casually responded, "You are home, Jane."
   Looking right at me, she responded, “You don’t understand.  It is Christmas and I need to be at home.”
   I then got real serious and said something like, “Jane, people here care for you, and you are like family here, so this is kind of your home.”
   I tried to comfort her, but it was sad.
   Growing up in a transient area in Virginia inside the D.C. beltway, experiencing the divorce of my parents, and remaining single all of these years, even though it has been a longstanding dream to be married, has made “home” often seem elusive.
   There is an old saying, “Love makes a house a home.”  I agree, realizing home is a place, yet home also involves relationships.  We learn the atonement Jesus made on the cross as the substitute for sins, which is stated in I John 4:10, resulted in the opportunity for people to be in a truly loving spiritual relationship now with Jesus.  Thus if you receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord, wherever your abode, you can be at home with Jesus.
   Secondly, receiving Jesus, you gain a forever home.  As Jesus promised one of the men being crucified alongside Him, a believer will be ushered by Christ into heaven.  After following Jesus for coming on thirty years next month, I recognize more and more the journey I have been on in this world does not find completion here.  The result of journeying with Jesus is an eternal home with God in heaven.
   Knowing this in my heart, sometimes it does not seem so.  I have been in churches where leaders or people have been focused on money or whatever else blocks love, and then when I moved on, I felt church homeless.  And there have been two periods in my life in my calling of ministry work when I had to move so frequently, “home” seemed like it may be out of reach.
   Yet whether I am church homeless or a nomad, I live with the Holy Spirit being in me, and I have the promise of heaven.  If you are not a follower of Jesus, you can be today by simply believing in Him.  And if you are a believer, rely on the promises of our loving Father that He is with you right now and cares for you right now, and that He has an eternal home for you, praise be to Jesus!
Hunter