Homesick

I love New Orleans. I lived there for two years and it just got in my blood. They say some people are just meant for New Orleans and I was one of them. It was a polarizing place. I never met anyone who was just iffy about it. People either loved it or they hated it and wanted to get out. There was no in between.

When I lived in New Orleans, I was homesick for Kentucky a few times, but I honestly had planned to live and die in New Orleans. God had other plans for me and brought me back to Kentucky. Since being in Kentucky, I often find myself homesick for New Orleans. I sometimes think, “If I could just visit for a day, I could scratch that itch.” I love Kentucky and I love New Orleans.

I loved college and at times I longed to go back there. I took a vacation to San Diego and absolutely loved that city. What all of these feelings of longing tell me along with the Holy Spirit communicating through Scripture is that this world is not my home. No matter where I am, I am never fully satisfied. No matter where I am, there is a sense of being homesick for somewhere else.

The older I get, the more I feel homesick for eternity with Christ. As I age, more pains enter my life both physically and emotionally. These pains have awakened me to the fact that this world isn’t my home. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. I am homesick for Christ.

Is this homesickness just for discomfort while I survive this life waiting for the next? Not at all. This homesickness should propel us to greater ministry. If I feel this way, do others? No doubt. There are plenty among us who feel the disjunction of the world, but they can’t figure out why. They do not know that their longing is for Christ.

We must tell them. We must share the good news that we know and others need. I pray today you feel homesick and I pray that homesickness will move you to share with others that there is a perfect home and that you’d tell them how they can get there.