Far Away From Home

Sometimes we forget that this is not our home.

Where we currently live…

…the city or town…

…all of it, is only transitional.

No, your real home…

…where you need to go to one day…

…is with God and the saints.

AND I HAVE THE FEELING

that if you needed to write home to inform them of your current happenings then…

…you might find the whole experience quite difficult.

“I live among many,” you might begin “that neither revere God’s holy name, nor seem to be aware of it’s potency. In fact, the name of Jesus has become something of a byword; the name from the burning bush just a memory.”

“And our outposts, those places of communication where the most important and necessary of messages come from you to us have all but become relics, buildings for meeting rather than places of worship.”

Yes, you might say all of this and more, until of course your were forced to admit some painful truths.

“People are hurting here. In every way they grope in the dark and stumble when they cannot find the light. And I, yes I know what you would tell me, I have hidden what they need.” “…But if they find out that I am not like them then they will scorn me…” “…If they find out that I see the world in more luminous ways than they could ever imagine then they might cast me out of their city.”

BUT HOLD ON

…you are not of this city.

Christian, you are not of this world.

And today, when you see yet another person stumbling in the dark…

…when you have to stand against the grain and reveal the truth to those whose eyes cannot bare it…

…when you have to endure ‘the look’…

…or the scoff…

…or the joke at your expense…

…you are rewriting your letter.

“I spoke and was crucified. I stood my ground and paid the price. But you know, the light spread. Something was ignited in the soul of the other. I know it. I believe it.”

Today is your chance to write home something beautiful.

Pick up your pen, and get ready.

in Christ, patrick